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\ LIBKAKY OF ONdliESS. t 



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SEEMO]^S: 



EXPERIMENTAL AND PEACTICAL. 



AN OFFERING TO 



HOME MISSIONARIES. 



BY JOEL HAWES, D. D. 



" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." 






c -NBW TOEK: 
EGBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 
No. 530 BROADWAY. 

1867. 
V 



'H354 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1866, by 

JOEL HAWES, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 



District of Connecticut. 



MANTTFACTURBD BY 

CASE, LOCKWOOD & CO., 
Printers and Bookbinders, 

HARTFOED, COITX. 



d? 

^ PREFACE. 



This volume is presented to the Missionaries of the Ameri- 
can Home Missionary Society, as a token of the author's high 
regard for their sacred calhng, and of his hearty interest in the 
great and good, though arduous and self-denying work in which 
they are engaged, — that of ministering to feeble churches, and 
preaching the gospel to dwellers in the newly settled and desti- 
tute portions of our Land. It was his desire and purpose, 
while preparing for the ministry, to engage in that work himself, 
and he looked, with earnest hope, to what was then deemed the 
far West as the field of his future labors. But divine Provi- 
dence saw fit to overrule that purpose and assign him his life's 
work in a very different part of the Lord's vineyard. But he 
is happy to reflect, as he is now closing his earthly course, that 
he has never ceased to feel an interest in the great cause of 
Christian missions, both home and foreign, — he regards them, 
in spirit and aim, as essentially one cause, equally worthy and 
equally demanding the prayers and efforts of all the friends 
of Christ, and enforced by the same authoritative command, — 
" Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature." 

The sermons in the volume, it will be seen, are of a miscel- 
laneous character, not designed for the discussion of points of 
Christian doctrine or any peculiarities of religious sentiment ; 
but plain, practical, experimental ; setting forth in direct, sim- 
ple style, the great evangelical truths and duties which the 



IV PREFACE. 

author thoroughly believes, and which he has found, in the ex- 
perience of a long life in the ministry, most effective -and use- 
ful in the awakening and conversion of sinners, and in quick- 
ening and aiding Christians in the divine life. Several of the 
discourses here published were prepared and preached to the 
people of the author's charge, and often in other places, in sea- 
sons of rehgious revival, and were made by the Holy Spirit 
instrumental of much good. They are now presented to our 
beloved missionaries, laboring in different and widely separated 
portions of our country, with earnest prayer that they may still 
do good in winning souls to Christ and promoting the cause of 
true religion. 

These discourses, prepared and preached amid the ever press- 
ing duties of a large pastoral charge, are now printed and pub- 
lished, with slight alterations, not as having any special claim to 
originality of thought, or brilliancy of style, but because the 
author fully believes the things affirmed in them to be true and 
of essential importance to a healthy, vigorous type of piety, 
both in the ministry, in the churches, in families and in individ- 
ual Christians. In this belief he commits the volume to his 
missionary brethren, as an expression of fraternal love, praying 
that the presence of the Saviour may be with them in all their 
labors, and that they may have the joy of seeing the kingdom 
of truth and holiness rise and spread in its blessed influences 
over all the wide extended fields they are called to cultivate. 

Hartford, November, 1866. 



CONTENTS 



SEEMON I. 

PAGE. 
THE WORD OP THE LORD COMMENDED TO OUR PAITH BY ITS 

BEING A TRIED WORD 7 

Psalm xviii : 30. The word of the Iiord is tried. 

SERMON II. 

CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF 20 

Mark ix : 24. Lord I helieve, help thou mine unbelief. 

SERMON III. 

A man's RELIGION WORTH WHAT IT COSTS HIM 31 

Matthew xiii : 45, 46. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant- 
man seeking goodly pearls ; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, 
went and sold all that he had and bought it. 

SERMON IV. 

SECOND CONVERSION 42 

Luke xxii : 32. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

SERMON V. 

HOW TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPY AND ETERNALLY PROGRESSIVE. 53 
Proverbs x : 9. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely. 

SERMON YI. 

LIFE, — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS 65 

Genesis ii : 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul. 

SERMON VII. 

LESSONS FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN THE GIFT OP A SAVIOUR 77 

John iii : 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

SERMON VIII. 

man's CAPABILITY OP FUTURE GLORY AND BLESSEDNESS 85 

1 John iii : 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear 
what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, 
for we shall see him as he is. 



VI CONTENTS. 

SERMON IX. 

THE WAGES OF SIN 96 

Romans vi : 23. For the wages of sin is death. 

SERMON X. 

CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY TO A JUST APPRECIATION OF 

god's grace IN SALVATION 108 

Luke V : 31, 32. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are 
ack. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

SERMON XI. 

NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION 119 

John iii : 3. Verily, verily I say Tinto thee, except a man be bom again he can 
not see the kingdom of God. 

SERMON XII. 

THE DOCTINE OF REGENERATION AN ELEMENT OF POWER IN THE 

GOSPEL 130 

Hebrews iv : 12. For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than 
any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart. 

SERMON XIII. 

EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 141 

Zechariah xii : 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications ; and they shall 
look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one 
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in 
bitterness for his first born. 

SERMON XIV. 

CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS 152 

John XV : 8. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much jfruit ; so shall ye 
be my disciples. 

SERMON XV. 

THE GOODNESS OP GOD A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE 162 

Romans ii: 4. Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to 
repentance. 

SERMON XVI. 

FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST 172 

Actsxiii: 38,39. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that 
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all 
that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by 
the law of Moses. 

SERMON XVII. 

THE GREAT SEPARATION 1 82 

Matthew xxv : 32. He shall separate them one &om another. 



CONTENTS. VU 

SEKMON XVIII. 

NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE 193 

Matthew xii : 30. He that is not for me is against me ; and he that gathereth 
not with me scattereth abroad. 

SERMON XIX. 

UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGER OF INDECISION IN RELIGION. . . 204 

1 Kings xviii : 21. And Elijah came and said unto all the people, how long 
halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God follow him ; but if Baal then 
follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 

SERMON XX. 

THE ELEMENTS. OF PERSUASION IN THE GOSPEL SALVATION 214 

Hebrews ii : 3. So great salvation. 

SERMON XXI. 

ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD 222 

Joshua xxiv : 15. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. 

SERMON XXII. 

REDEMPTION A GROUND OP ENCOURAGEMENT TO COMMIT THE 

SOUL TO GOD 233 

Psalm XXXV : 5. Into thy hand I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, 
Lord God of truth. 

SERMON XXIII. 

CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS 244 

Mark iv : 28. First the blade, then the ear, then the full com in the ear. 

SERMON XXIV. 

THE DAT OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OP THINGS, SEL- 
DOM A DAT OF HOPEFUL APPEARANCES 254 

Luke xxiii : 54. And that day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on. 

SERMON XXV. 

THE DUTT, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE OF BEING HAPPY 267 

Psalm iv : 6, 7. There be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord 
lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness into 
my heart more than in the time when their corn and wine are increased. 

SERMON XXVI. 

HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLT 281 

Job V : 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of com 
cometh in his season. 

SERMON XXVII. 

THE SUPERIORITT OF THE CHRISTIANAS RESOURCES OVER ALL 

THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST 294 

Deuteronomy xxxii : 31. Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves 
being judges. 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

SERMON XXVIII. 

THE ONLY FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN.. 307 

Isaiah xxviii : 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion 
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation ; 
he that beUeveth shall not make haste. 

SERMON XXIX. 

DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH 318 

Hebrews ii : 14, 15. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh 
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he 
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver 
them who through fear of death were ail their lifetime subject to bondage. 

SERMON XXX. 

THE GOSPEL THE POWER OP GOD UNTO SALVATION 329 

Romans i : 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ; — it is the power 
of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to 
the Greek. 

SERMON XXXI. 

CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE 341 

Philippians ii : 16. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the 
day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. 

SERMON XXXII. 

A minister's EXPERIENCE CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF HIS DOC- 
TRINES 350 

Philippians iii : 18. For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now 
tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 

SERMON XXXIII. 

MEN REAP AS THEY SOW 361 

Galatians vi : 7. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 

SERMON XXXIV. 

ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OF CONFIDENCE IN THE DAY OF 

HIS APPEARING 372 

1 John ii : 28. And now, little children, abide in him ; that when he shall ap- 
pear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 

SERMON XXXV. 

CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN 382 

Hebrews ix ; 27. It is appointed unto men once to die. 

SERMON XXXVI. 

THE GOSPEL ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER 395 

John XX : 21. As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 



SERMONS. 



SERMON I. 

THE WORD OF THE LORD COMMENDED TO OUR FAITH BY 
ITS BEING A TRIED WORD. 

Psalm xviii : 40. The word of the Lord is tried. 

A THING that has been tried is deemed all the raore valuable 
on that account. A medicine, which has been found on trial 
to be a sure remedy for certain kinds of disease, is held in high 
estimation, and is resorted to with a confidence proportioned to 
the number and success of the cases in which it has been tried. 
A bridge, over which travelers have passed with safety for hun- 
dreds of years, is ventured upon by succeeding travelers with a 
feeling of entire security. A garrison, which has withstood the 
assaults of successive foes and around which war has repeated- 
ly raged in vain, is looked to as a secure retreat in every time 
of danger. The faithful steel that has been found trustworthy 
on many a battle-field and has always come off victorious, is 
held by its owner as above all price, and he grasps it with a 
firmer confidence when called to encounter new enemies. 

It is thus that the word of the Lord is commended to our faith 
and high esteem. It is a tried word. It has been tried in every 
possible way ; subjected to tests of the severest kind, and in 
every case has proved its heavenly origin, its indestructible na- 
ture, and its perfect adaptation to the character and wants of 
man. 

My object in the present discourse is to commend this word 
to your faith, and to secure for it a practical lodgment in your 
hearts. The word of the Lord is tried. 

1. Science has tried it. The sciences, in their present form, . 
2 



3 THE WORD OF THE LORD 

were unknown when the scriptures, containing the word of the 
Lord, were first written. They are of much later origin, and 
have come to light, on the field of knowledge, at successive 
periods, long subsequent to that in which the Bible was given 
to mankind. 

Now, the remarkable fact to be noticed here is, that while 
science, in well nigh all its departments, has, in its infancy or 
nonage, raised its puny arm against the Bible and attempted, 
by plausible objections and premature theories, to obscure its 
truth or prove it false, that same science, in its maturity and 
manhood, has come forward to do homage to the Bible and give 
testimony in favor of its divine origin. To show the truth of 
this statement, in detail, would require a volume instead of a 
passing notice, which is all that can now be attempted. 
" Take for example the science of geology ; for science it must 
now be called, though much remains yet to be discovered in 
order to make it perfect. In its early development many facts 
were brought forward that seemed to bear hard on the Mosaic 
account of the creation, and Infidelity shouted for joy, as it 
saw, 

" Some drill and bore 

The solid earth, and from the strata there, 

Extract a register from which to prove 

That He who made it and revealed its date 

To Moses, was mistaken in its age." 

Even many believers in revelation were alarmed, and deemed 
it a sort of profaneness to have anything to do with a science, 
which gave so much occasion for skeptical men to cavil and 
dispute against the word of the Lord. But the day of alarm 
has passed by, and while scores of geological theories, hostile to 
the scriptures, have been exposed and vanished as a dream, the 
real science of geology, after having wandered from theory to 
theory and from one vision of fancy to another, gladly returns 
to do homage to the Bible ; and now its ablest and most learned 
advocates are also believers in revelation. This science, once, 
perhaps, more given to skepticism than any other, having tried 
the word of the Lord on the field of its own discoveries, has 
found it true, and now willingly does it reverence. 

Several years since, the discovery was made, or was thought 
to be made, by perforating the successive lavas, formed by 
the volcanic overflowings of Mount -3Etna, that the earth must 



A TRIED WORD. 9 

have existed, in its present form, at least fourteen thousand 
years. The discovery was published by Brydone, an English 
traveler in Sicily, and flew like light through Europe, and was 
seized upon by multitudes as furnishing complete evidence that 
the chronology of the Bible is false and the Bible itself untrue. 
But subsequent investigation has proved that the supposed dis- 
covery was based on an entirely false view of facts, and of 
course, the inferences drawn from it had no foundation for their 
support. 

At a later period, the astronomical tables of India were sup- 
posed to furnish incontestible proof of a much higher antiquity 
belonging to our globe than is assigned it according to the writ- 
ings of Moses. This opinion was advanced with great confi- 
dence by many learned men of that day, and again Infidelity 
shouted for joy that the Bible would now be rejected as false 
and reason assume her proper place. But these same astro- 
nomical tables were afterwards examined by the great French 
philosopher, LaPlace, and were demonstrated to be of compar- 
atively modern date, and furnish not the slightest evidence 
against the Mosaic chronology.* 

Later still, an account of an Egyptian relic, the Zodiac of 
Dendera, was published in Paris by Denon, in his work on 
Egypt, and once more the savans of Europe, especially of 
France, felt confident that they had now the means of convict- 
ing Moses of ignorance and his writings as being unworthy of 
confidence. But in the midst of their apparent triumph, and 
while alarm was felt by many a Christian heart for the safety 
of religion, Champolion, the celebrated antiquary, who had 
learnt, during his residence in Egypt, to decipher the system of 
hieroglyphics, returned to Paris and by simple reading of the 
letters of the far-famed Zodiac, proved that, instead of marking 
a period of at least fifteen thousand years, it did not date back 
to even the commencement of the Christian era.f 

In like manner the variety of languages, and the diversity 
of color and form which distinguish the different races of 
men, have often been urged, with great confidence, as disprov- 
ing the account given in Genesis of the common origin of man- 
kind. But the study of Ethnography, or the classification of 
nations by a comparison of their languages, together with a bet- 
ter acquaintance with the natural history of man, has removed 

*Weismaa's Lectures, pp. 237-239. 

fBaraes' Faith in God's Word, A 113. Also, Weisman's Lectures, pp. 
168, 169. 



10 THE WORD OF THE LORD 

this objection and shown, to the satisfaction of the most compe- 
tent judges, that the human race sprang from a common pair, 
and that all the languages now extant must have been broken 
off from a common stock, itself no longer in existence. Thus 
the unity of the races and the dispersion of mankind at Babel 
are proved by the progress of those sciences which once gave 
their voice against the credibility of these facts. 

I refer to these examples simply to show how the very 
sciences, whence objections have been urged against religion, 
have in their progress entirely removed those objections. Ex- 
amples of this kind might be multiplied to almost any extent. 
For, while each science has been individually ransacked, and 
often in its minority made to furnish some results apparently 
against the Bible, it is a most interesting fact, that each science 
in its progress to manhood has reversed these results and given 
its voice in favor of the scriptures. It is with science, as it is with 
the human mind in its youthful age and inexperience, it is apt 
to be self-conceited and skeptical; but in its maturity, it becomes 
humble, modest and reverent of God's word. This we have 
seen to be true of geology, of chronology and astronomy, of 
ethnography and the natural history of man. Plence the re- 
mark of the late Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst College, than 
whom few men were ever better qualified to judge in the case : 
" Every part of science," he says, " which has been supposed, 
by the fears of friends or the malice of foes, to conflict with re- 
ligion, has been found, at length, when fully understood, to be 
in perfect harmony with its principles, and even to illustrate 
them."* 

And how wonderful it is, that while the Bible is older than 
all the sciences that distinguish and bless our day, it is receiv- 
ing support from them all. The word of the Lord, instead of 
being lost amid the lights of our improved literature and sci- 
ence, shines with a brighter lustre than ev^r, and is this moment 
receiving the faith and the homage of a larger number of great 
minds and ripe scholars than at any former period of its his- 
tory. Surely none but the Infinite Mind could adapt the scrip- 
tures to the ever improving state of the sciences, or to the 
nature of man and his ever unfolding wants and progress in 
knowledge. Of the word of the Lord, it is to be said — 

2. Time has tried it. It has stood the test, in whole or in 
part, of some thousands of years, and now, instead of showing 

^Religion of Geology, p. 487. 



A TRIED WORD. 11 

signs of decay, it stands forth with greater vigor and strength 
than ever. Time which, like a mighty flood, sweeps away 
man and all his works, makes no impression on the word of the 
Lord, except only as it shows more clearly its inestimable, ever 
abiding character. It is with the Bible as it is with its divine 
Author, — one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day. During the long period it has been extant, king- 
doms have risen and passed away ; empires have flourished and 
fallen into decay ; countless monuments of human art and gen- 
ius have been erected and overthrown ; systems of philosophy 
and of false religion have been invented and propagated with 
great zeal, and then have passed from the earth ; the earth it- 
self has undergone innumerable changes, both in its physi- 
cal aspect and state, and in the number and character of the 
people that dwell upon it ; still the word of the Lord endures, 
unchanged, undecayed, shining forth to-day with a brighter light 
than ever, and sending forth wider and more healthful influ- 
ences to bless and elevate our race in the knowledge and love 
of God. It has come down to us through the ordeal of all the 
long years that have swept over the globe since first God gave 
man his word, and to-day it stands before us in more than its 
pristine vigor and glory, preferring higher claims than ever to 
our faith, our veneration and love. This is the Bible, the earli- 
est written record of this world's history, the oldest surviving 
offspring of the human mind, or rather of the Divine mind, as 
made known by inspiration. "All the cotemporaries of its in- 
fancy have long since perished and are forgotten. Yet this 
wonderful volume still survives. Like the fabled pillars of 
Seth, which are said to have bid defiance to the deluge, it has 
stood for ages, unmoved in the midst of that flood which sweeps 
away men with all their labors, into oblivion." If the word of 
the Lord thus tried by the lapse of some thousands of years 
that have passed over it, still survives, and survives with invig- 
orated strength and brightened prospects, we need have no fear 
in respect to it for the future. It is immortal in its nature and 
must endure forever. We say of this word — 

3. Friends have tried it. And a material fact to be noticed 
here is, that all who in successive generations have been friends 
of the word of the Lord, were made such by the transforming 
and subduing power of the word itself. Enemies by nature, 
they became friends by the divine word entering their minds 
and hearts, and constraining them by an illuminating, sanctify- 
2* 



12 THE WORD OP THE LORD 

ing influence to yield to its claims of being the wisdom and 
power of God unto salvation to all who believe. 

Consider now what a countless multitude since first the Bible 
was given to man have been subdued by its power to the obedi- 
ence of faith and love. All these have made trial of its excel- 
lence and its efficacy, and have found it able to subdue all 
things to itself. Where philosophy has proved itself utterly im- 
potent and fruitless, the word of the Lord has gloriously 
triumphed, and won such victories as have outdone the proud- 
est achievements of mere science and learning. It has found 
men guilty, miserable, wandering from God and happiness, and 
has turned them into the path of peace and salvation. It has 
convinced them of sin and brought to them the pardon of sin. 
It has subdued their wills, changed their hearts, and made them 
new creatures unto God. It has raised in them new affections, 
new desires, new aims, holy, heavenly, transforming and divine. 
It has given them light in darkness, joy in sorrow, hope in de- 
spair, victory over the world and death, enabled them to joy in 
God as their portion and friend, amid all the vicissitudes and 
■trials of their earthly course; then they have closed their eyes 
in peace and died with hopes full of immortality. The number 
who have thus made trial of the word of the Lord, whom it has 
thus changed, supported and raised to Heaven, is great beyond 
enumeration. They have been found in every age of the world, 
among all nations, in every grade of society, and in every de- 
gree of intellectual strength and attainment. All these, now a 
multitude on earth and in Heaven, which no man can number 
— all these, friends of the word of the Lord, and made such by 
its own essential, all-subduing power, have made trial of it, full, 
effectual trial, and in all possible circumstances, and it has never 
failed them, never disappointed them, but has proved itself in 
their own experience to be indeed the word of the Lord and 
mighty to accomplish in them all His purposes of grace and 
love. They have tried it in the darkness of nature and amid 
the errings of reason, and have found it a light to their feet and 
a lamp to their path. They have tried it when oppressed with 
guilt and trembling in fear of the wrath to come, and it has 
spoken peace to their spirits and given them joy in believing. 
They have tried it amid the bereavements and sorrows of life, 
and have found it able to cheer the broken-hearted and bring 
tears of gladness into eyes swollen with grief They have tried it 
in the hour of temptation and danger, in persecution, in suffering 



A TRIED WORD. 13 

and death, and in all these circumstances, it has enabled them 
to come off conquerors, and more than conquerors, through Him 
that loved them ; and to sing as they went down into the valley 
of the shadow of death, " The Lord is my shepherd ; I will fear 
no evil ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me ; I know whom 
I have believed ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
glory. O, grave ! where is thy victory ! O, death ! where is 
thy sting ? — thanks be unto God ; I am at peace with him and I 
go to my home in Heaven." Millions in both worlds have thus 
made trial of the word of the Lord, and have found it adequate 
to meet all their deepest wants. They have embraced it to their 
bosom amid all the dark passages of life ; have taken it as their 
counsellor and guide in their pilgrimage here below ; and each, 
as he has passed from the scenes of earth and time, has, through 
the faith and comfort of the scriptures, triumphed over death 
and the grave, and risen to inherit immortal rewards in Heaven. 
Such has been the experience of the friends of the word of the 
Lord, who have made trial of its power and excellence. 
But— 

4. This word has been tried by enemies as well as by friends. 
There is no conceivable form in which the word of the Lord, 
as embodied in the Bible, has not been assailed by its enemies. 
At one time they have kindled the fires of persecution, and en- 
deavored to consume both it and its friends together. At an- 
other, they have arrayed against it the powers of government, 
and striven to banish it from the earth. At another, they have 
poured forth torrents of ridicule and contempt, and have tried 
to enlist in this horrid warfare against God and His word, all 
the resources of wit and argument, and of science and learning. 
The bowels of the earth and the regions of the stars, the cabi- 
net of the antiquary, and the treasures of the naturalist, have 
been ransacked for weapons to turn against the Bible. No 
pains have been spared, no means left unemployed which wit 
or learning, which enmity or ridicule could command, to prove 
the word of God to be a lie, and all hopes built upon it to be 
mere dreams of superstition. 

* Still the object of all these attacks remains uninjured, while 
one army of its enemies after another has passed away in de- 
feat and dishonor. Though it has been ridiculed more bitterly," 
misrepresented more grossly, opposed more rancourously, and 
burnt more frequently than any other book, or, perhaps, than 
all other books united, it is so far from sinking under the efforts 
of its enemies, that it is plainly gathering fresh strength from 



14 THE WORD OF THE LORD 

age to aga, and tlie probability of its surviving until the consum- 
mation of all things, is now far greater than ever.'* The ene- 
mies of God's word can never subject it to severer trials thao 
it has passed through in ages gone by. They have done their 
utmost, and yet the Bible, like the sun in the heavens, its own 
declared emblem, is holding on its way, scattering light far and 
wide among the nations. 

Many of its bitterest foes, it has from time to time conquered 
and brought over to the side of its friends, as was Saul of Tar- 
sus, the Earl of Rochester, Col. Gardner and multitudes of 
others, even in the ranks of infidelity, but subdued by the 
power of God's word, to the obedience of faith. And of those 
who hold out as enemies of God's word, not a few are com- 
pelled, sooner or later, and especially in the honest hour of 
death, to do unwilling homage to its truth and power, by the 
fear and remorse that harrass and torment them in the closing 
scene, as was the case with Voltaire, and Paine, and Sir 
Francis Newport, and hosts of others, their followers, who have 
left the world cursing the day when they first saw an infidel 
book, and were led to discard the word of the Lord. Thus we 
see how both friends and enemies, having tried that word, 
unite, though in different ways, to bear testimony to its power 
and worth. 

5. I must mention one other way in which the word of the 
Lord has been tried ; it has been tried in its influence on indi- 
vidual character, upon s6ciety and all the best interests of man. 
There is much deep meaning in the declaration of the Apostle, 
the world by wisdom knew not God. Philosophy had for cen- 
turies been tried, and had proved itself utterly powerless in the 
great work of reforming and making the world better. It 
promised much, but accomplished nothing. It was speculative* 
vain, dreamy, away from the business and the bosoms of men ; 
and far from promoting their true interests ; it served only to 
pufi* them up with pride and lead them away farther from God 
and happiness. It is well remarked by Lord Bacon, that the 
ancient philosophy ended in nothing but disputation, that it was 
neither a vineyard nor an olive grove, but an intricate wood of 
briars and thistles, from which those who lost themselves in it, 
brought back' many scratches but no food. 

Now the word of the Lord has been tried on this same field, 
and how different its fruits. From the time of its first commu- 

* Dr. Payson's Bible above all price. 



• A TRIED WORD. 15 

nication to mankind, it has been as a light shining in a dark 
place. It has disclosed principles, proclaimed precepts, an- 
nounced facts, duties, promises, rewards and punishments which 
have had the happiest influence upon all the best interests of 
man. Take a map and mark off those portions of the earth 
where the people are intelligent, virtuous, enterprising and 
happy ; where free governments exist and civil and religious 
liberty is enjoyed ; where schools, academies and colleges are 
to be found ; where institutions for the relief of the poor, the 
unfortunate and the suffering have been established ; where 
woman is elevated to her proper rank in society, and social and 
domestic happiness abounds, and all that is most essential to the 
dignity, honor and usefulness of man, and you mark off those 
very portions on which the word of the Lord has shed its 
benignant light and exerted its heavenly influences. Where, 
on all the face of the earth, does learning flourish, does liberty 
exist, do the useful arts prevail, is man intelligent, enterprising, 
happy, but where the word of God is known and its truths and 
ordinances are believed and loved. I cannot be more particu- 
lar. But let any one make the examination, and the evidence 
will be overwhelming, that the word of the Lord, on whatever 
field it has been tried, has proved itself most friendly to every 
interest of society, to every good institution of man, the helper 
of science, the promoter of liberty, the source and support of 
all that makes life useful, honorable and happy. 

I have thus pointed out some of the -ways in which the word 
of the Lord has been tried. Science has tried it, and found it 
true to all her mature discoveries and teachings. Time has 
tried it, and found it like its divine author, enduring unto all 
generations. Frrends have tried it, and have found it adapted 
to their every want, faithful to all its largest and most precious 
promises. Enemies have tried it, and have found it like an 
impregnable fortress, proof against all their assaults, and they 
have passed away as a shadow before its rising power. And 
finally, society has tried it, and has found in it the only founda- 
tion of intelligence, virtue, liberty, peace and happiness to 
man. 

"What now are the practical lessons to be deduced from this 
subject ? 

1. There is no fear for the future. The word of the Lord 
is a tried word. It has been subjected to one long and varied 
experiment of more than three thousand years, and the proof 



16 THE "WORD OF THE LORD 

is decisive ; it is composed of indestructible material ; it can 
never fail. Like the laws of nature, or the ordinances of 
heaven, it is established forever. You have no fear that the 
course of nature will not continue in future as in time past. You 
expect with entire confidence that the regular succession of 
seed time and harvest, and summer and winter, and heat and 
cold will continue till the end of time. You have no doubt 
that on whatever point you interrogate nature, whether in the 
laboratory of the chemist, or in the cabinet of the antiquary, 
or in the deep excavations and caverns of the geologist, you 
shall always obtain one true, invariable answer. And why are 
you so confident in this case ? Because nature has been tried, 
and has always been found to speak the truth, uniform, invari- 
able truth, in all her departments. For the same reason pre- 
cisely, ought we to have confidence in the Bible, the word of 
the Lord. It has been tried, — tried by an endless variety of 
tests, continued through a long course of ages ; and the result 
has been, in every case, to increase the sum of its proofs, and 
to give fresh lustre to its claims of being of divine origin. If 
all that has been known and done in time past, has only tended 
to confirm the evidences, and to show us more clearly the truth, 
the powder and the excellence of God's word, we have surely 
nothing to fear from what yet remains concealed. "We say, 
then, to the student of nature, we say to philosophers and men 
of science, of every name, push your investigations to the ut- 
most; search out the hidden arcana of nature; explore every 
nook and corner of creation, every record of antiquity, every 
department of knowledge, whether on the earth beneath or in 
the heavens above, where you can learn the character of God, 
and the nature and destiny of man, — do this in the modesty 
and humility of true science, and then when you have surveyed 
the whole, and searched the utmost limits of human knowledge, 
you shall find nothing but what is confirmatory of God's word, 
and returning, you will lay your hand upon the Bible and fix 
your eyes upon the cross, and exclaim in the expressive lan- 
guage preserved on an ancient gem — Religio vicisti! — word 
of the Lord, thou hast overcome ; here is true wisdom, here is 
everlasting life. 

2. It is a serious matter for any one to set himself against 
the word of the Lord. It is a strong tower into which the 
righteous run and are safe; but around which countless hosts of 
enemies have fallen and perished. Voltaire said, it has been 



A TRIED WORD. 17 

the boast of ages that twelve men established Christianity in 
the world. I will show the world that one man can destroy it. 
But where is Voltaire, or what did he accomplish of his im- 
pious boast ? He lived long and he worked hard and went 
down to the grave, cursing the horrid work in which he had 
spent his days ; and the very press, which was employed in 
publishing his infidel writings, has since been used in the print- 
ing of christian tracts. See that fellow man of yours ; he sets 
himself aofasnst the established order of nature ; he refuses to 
obey her laws in his food, his drink, his dress ; he walks into 
the fire and into the water ; affects to make the seasons obey 
his will, and the sun to rise and set at his bidding. What say 
you of this man ? He is bereft of his reason ; knows not what 
is for his good, and is in danger of being destroyed. So say we 
of him who sets himself against the Bible, who refuses submis- 
sion to the word of the Lord. That word is established firm 
as the throne of him who revealed it ; and whoever sets him- 
self against it, sets himself against the throne of the Eternal, and 
must be destroyed. The great principles of the Bible are just 
as fixed as the laws of nature ; its enactments are just as cer- 
tain ; less speedy, indeed, of execution, but just as certain ; and 
he who disregards them, or lives contrary to them, is just as 
sure to fall under punishment, and in the end to perish, as is 
he who sets himself' against the decrees of nature, and refuses 
obedience to her mandates. 

Strange, that experience in the one case should make men 
wise to know what is for their safety and their happiness, while 
experience in the other leaves them still to pursue their follies 
and their sins. No situation is so deplorable, so perilous as 
that of a man who disregards or rejects the word of the living 
God. He sets himself against that which has stood the test of 
ages ; which has quieted, comforted and blessed countless mul- 
titudes of its friends on their way to Heaven ; which has over- 
whelmed in shame, sorrow and despair the hosts of its foes ; 
which has the testimony of all sciences, of all sound philosophy 
on its side, and which all experience has proved to be the last 
hope of a sinking world, the essential means of holiness and 
happiness, of pardon and salvation to the sons of men. He 
who does this may dream that he is safe, and fear no danger ; 
but he has more reason to fear and tremble than if the heavens 
should gather blackness over him, and the earth beneath should 
open to swallow him up. He is arrayed against the word of 
God, against God himself, and he must be destroyed. 



18 THE WORD OF THE LORD 

3. We should use the word of the Lord for all the purposes 
for which it was given us. We should study it with devout 
affection and lively faith, striving by every means to imbue our 
minds with its principles, and our hearts with its spirit. We 
should take it as the man of our counsel, and the guide of our 
life, conforming all our sentiments to its teachings, and follow- 
ing wherever it leads us. We should make it our test of truth, 
our standard of duty, the source of our joys and the basis of 
our hopes. We should remember how patriarchs, and proph- 
ets, and apostles, how confessors and martyrs, and holy men in 
all ages have taken the word of God as their heritage forever; 
have delighted to pour over its sacred pages in blessed com- 
munings with its divine Author, and through faith and comfort 
thence derived have passed their sojournings on earth in peace 
and joy and risen to inherit immortal rewards in Heaven. 

We should make the word of God the enlightener of our in- 
tellects, the, purifier of our hearts, the instructor and quickener 
of our consciences. We should lay it at the foundation of our 
characters and of our hopes, and of all our plans of happiness 
both for this and a coming world. It should enter our families 
and preside over all our domestic arrangements and direct in 
the whole education and training of our children. It should be 
adopted in our schools, in our academies and colleges as the 
Book of books, and should give spirit and direction to all our 
systems of education. The student should make it a part of 
his everyday studies and consider himself as advancing in use- 
ful knowledge only as he advances in the knowledge, reverence 
and love of God's word. The lawyer at the bar, the judge on 
the bench, the statesman in the hall of legislation, should drink 
daily at this fountain of heavenly wisdom, that they may know 
God and fear him ; their destiny and prepare for it ; their 
duty and do it as unto the Lord, who is to judge them at the 
last day. In a word, all, of every name and age and condition 
in life, should bow down in submission to the word of the Lord, 
yielding to it their faith, their love, their obedience, that so it 
may accomplish in them the great and benevolent ends of its 
revelation, their assimilation to God and their eternal happiness 
in his presence. All this, most surely, may of right be claimed 
for the word of the Lord, since it is indeed His word, and has 
come down to us tried by every test which should endear it to 
our hearts and secure for it supreniiacy over our lives. Is the 
Lord indeed speaking to us ? Do we hear his voice in his word? 



A TRIED WORD. li> 

Has he there told us all his heart, all his will ? Then let us re- 
ceive his teachings and give to his truth the forming of our 
characters and the fitting of our souls for immortal life. Men 
may think they grow wise and learned without the Bible, or 
independent of it or contrary to it ; but all such wisdom will 
ere long be found foolishness, and he alone be acknowledged 
wise who is made wise by God's word — wise to save his soul 
and secure everlasting happiness in the state beyond the grave. 
4. Let us all prepare to meet the scenes which the tried 
word of the Lord declares are yet before us. Many of the 
declarations of that word relate to things that are passed ; 
and all these declarations have been found to be true. And so 
it will be of the future. The word of the Lord will go on 
evincing its truth by actual trial till the end of time, and then 
it will receive its final demonstration in the scenes of eternal 
destiny. What then are some of those things which God's 
word asserts to be true, and which we have yet to meet on the 
track of our future being ? It asserts that we must all die, and 
we know this to be certain by the melancholy passing away of 
fellow-beings around us, and by sad omens that we in like 
manner must soon fall beneath the stroke of the universal de- 
stroyer. It tells us further of a judgment that cometh after 
death, and of the two diverse paths that lead from the judgment- 
seat unto eternity. And it assures us, moreover, that each of 
us, after having passed an impartial trial before the great Judge 
of all, shall receive a sentence of acquittal or of condemnation, 
according to the character formed in this state of probation, and 
then shall ascend to dwell in Heaven or take up our abode in 
hell. These scenes are before us — death, judgment and eter- 
nity, everlasting happiness or everlasting wo, in one or the 
other of the only two places prepared for the reception of de- 
parted souls. All this is certain, for the mouth of the Lord 
has declared it, and it only remains for us to prepare for the 
inevitable allotment. And blessed be God, such preparation 
may be made. For the same word of truth which assures us 
that we must die, go to the judgment, and live forever in bliss 
or in wo, assures us also that we may, through the mercy of 
Christ and the infiuence of a sanctifying Spirit, be saved from 
wrath and obtain eternal life. All this is made certain by the 
tried word of the Lord. If that word, with unfailing certainty, 
binds over an obstinate sinner to all the horrors of future 
wretchedness in hell, it does with equal certainty secure for the 



20 CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

penitent sinner, seeking mercy in Christ, all the joys of pardon, 
peace and eternal heaven. Prepare, then, to meet your God; 
prepare to meet him in peace. For the time is at hand when 
all that he'has said in his word of the righteous and the wick- 
ed, and of heaven and hell, will be matter of experience, of 
personal, unchanging experience, to every person in this 
assembly. 



SERMON II. 

CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

Mark ix. 24. Lord, I believe ; help thou mine tmbelief. 

The celebrated Sir Humphrey Davy once said — "I envy 
no quality of the mind or intellect in others ; — no genius, power, 
wit or fancy ; — but if I could choose what would be most de- 
lightful, and I believe most useful to me, I would prefer a firm 
religious belief to every other blessing ; for it makes life a dis- 
cipline of goodness; creates new hopes when earthly hopes 
vanish, and throws over the destruction of existence the most 
gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and calls up 
most delightful visions of joy and blessedness, where the sen- 
sualist and the skeptic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, 
and despair." It will not be thought by any one qualified to 
judge in the case, that this distinguished scholar and philosopher, 
in uttering this beautiful and striking language, placed too high 
an estimate on firm religious belief, that is, faith. It is indeed 
above all price ; first among the virtues of the Christian char- 
acter; the essential condition of our justification before God; 
and more than any other grace, it cheers and animates in the 
journey of life, and prepares the soul to ascend, singing in joy 
and hope, to its home in heaven. But of inestimable value as is 



CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 21 

settled religious faith, it is by no means an easy or a common 
attainment. Many, who though conscious of a belief in the 
great truths of religion, which they would not part with for the 
world, are often perplexed and tried with the working of unbe- 
lief, disturbing their faith and disquieting their minds; and 
when it is so, no language is so expressive of their feelings as 
that contained in our text — "Lord, I believe; help thou mine 
unbelief." The conflict between belief and unbelief, intimated 
in these words, is by no means uncommon, especially with ear- 
nest, thinking minds ; and it need not be said to those who have 
had any experience in the case, that it is often a source of great 
mental perplexity and painful trial. And it is so just in pro- 
portion as the truths to which it relates rise in importance and 
bear on our duty and happiness. To be in a state of doubt or 
hesitation in respect to matters of little moment, or which have 
only a remote, if any connection, with personal duty and re- 
sponsibility, may occasion very little uneasiness or trouble of 
mind. But it is far otherwise when the truths in question are 
of fundamental importance, and are known to have an immedi- 
ate connection with our highest interests and most sacred duties. 
Such are the truths which relate to God, to the soul, to eternity 
and the grounds of acceptance with our Maker and Judge in 
the great day of trial. Here we want certainty; firm, unwav- 
ering certainty; and it is distressing when we look around and 
can not find it. We feel that interests of the greatest moment 
are at stake, that our all for eternity is involved, and we want 
a faith that shall exclude doubt, and bring our souls to rest on 
a foundation which can never be moved. But in point of fact 
such a faith is not common, nor is it of easy attainment. 

Let me mention a few truths which, while they are really 
believed by us, may, nevertheless, have sometimes hanging 
around them, in the mind's view, a measure of unbelief, that 
shall occasion no little perplexity and trial to our faith. We 
believe there is a God ; it is the great first truth of all religion ; 
we receive it as a settled article of our faith, and feel assured 
that we shall never reject it; but he must have a very passive, 
unthinking mind, who has. never been pressed with questions of 
a perplexing and trying character, respecting the existence, 
perfections and government of this infinite and eternal Being. 
He is removed entirely beyond all observation of our senses: 
we see him not, hear him not, feel him not ; we apprehend him 
only by reflection and thought, and at the best can know but a 



22 CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

part, a very small part of his character and ways; and this is 
often a source of great mental anxiety and trouble. "We believe 
that the Great Being, whom we call God, is the Creator and 
Kuler of the world, and that he exercises an all-wise and pow- 
erful providence over all creatures and all events. But how 
easy it is for unbelief to start a multitude of questions on this 
point, which we have no means of answering, and which do 
sometimes exceedingly try our faith. If there is a God of infi- 
nite perfections at the head of the universe, why such a world 
as this, so full of darkness, misery and sin ? Why are we here, 
such creatures as we are, weak, fallen, ruined; exposed on all 
hands to temptation and evil, and liable, as is the fact, to fall 
into everlasting misery? How can you explain this, asks un- 
belief; how reconcile it with infinite wisdom, power and good- 
ness? and faith has little to answer to inquiries of this kind, 
but looks elsewhere for repose. 

We believe in the immortality of the soul; that there is a 
spirit in man which survives the dissolution of the body, and is 
to exist for ever in happiness or misery in the state beyond the 
grave. But this truth, so generally and easily assented to, is 
far from being beyond the questionings of unbelief. What do 
we know of the soul, what of the effect of death upon it, or 
what of its state after death? And then eternal judgment, eter- 
nal happiness, eternal misery — heaven, hell — what mysterious 
words are these; how little do we know of their meaning, and 
how wide a field do they open for unbelief to wander and riot 
in ! I might mention many other truths of revelation, in respect 
to which, while we really believe them, we are often constrained 
to cry out — Lord, help thou our unbelief. We believe there is 
a personal trinity in the God-head, expressed by the terms, Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. We believe in the two-fold nature 
of Christ as human and divine — the Son of God and also the 
son of man. We believe that he died to procure our redemp- 
tion by the sacrifice of himself, and that it is only through faith 
in his atoning blood that any of our race can be saved. We 
believe in the personality and agency of the tToly Spirit ; that 
it is his office to renew and sanctify the fallen, depraved heart 
of man, and that none can enter the kingdom of heaven and 
be saved but such as experience this change, are born again — 
made new creatures in Christ. 

These truths we believe. We find them taught in the Word 
of God, and we receive them as true and settled articles of 



CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 23 

faith. But are we never troubled with difficulties respecting 
them ? Does unbelief never disturb our faith ; never thrust in 
its doubts and its questionings, and force us to seek relief in the 
confession and the prayer — " Lord I believe ; help thou mine 
unbelief?" He must have a very easy faith, I think, who knows 
nothing of the experience here indicated ; nothing of the con- 
flict of belief and unbelief, or of the painful perplexity and 
trial to which the mind is often subjected in consequence of this 
conflict. 

The inquiry now arises — and it is certainly a practical and 
very important one — what is the remedy for this state of mind ; 
in what way, or by what means may we be able to silence un- 
belief, and acquire a firm, unwavering faith? In answering 
this question I would remark — 

1. Study to have your mind well established in first princi- 
ples. There are in the science of religion, as in every human 
science, certain great, fundamental principles, or first truths, on 
which all its parts, with their relations and consequences, essen- 
tially depend. I can not now state what these principles are in 
detail. It is enough to know there are such ; and a clear, in- 
telligent apprehension of them is indispensable to all stability 
of faith, all firmness of belief in respect to other truths of re- 
ligion. Fixed in first principles, you will of course be less 
likely to be troubled with unbelief in regard to points of minor 
importance. Your mind will be like a ship firmly moored to 
the shore. The raging of the winds and the beating of the 
waves will give you no anxiety, for you know your cable is 
strong and your anchorage safe. So when the mind is firmly 
based on the great first truths of religion, they hold it fast amid 
all the perplexity and questioning which unbelief may occasion. 
Take, for example, the being of a God. If you have a settled, 
intelligent faith in this great truth ; if you firmly believe that 
he is a being of infinite, perfections, and reigns over the world 
by a providence that extends to all things and can never err, it 
will occasion you little perplexity, and no misgivings to your 
faith at all, that many things relating to his character and ways 
aje incomprehensible, and many things occur under his govern- 
ment which, in themselves, seem deeply mysterious and trying. 
Enough, you will say, that there is an all-perfect, reigning God 
at the head of the world; he knows what is wisest and best; 
and seeing he governs for the universe and governs for eternity, 
it is only what might be expected, from the nature of the case, 
3* 



24 CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

that hh ways should be past finding out, and that many of 
his dispensations should seem to our short-sightedness veiled in 
profound darkness. Falling back on this great first principle — 
God is infinite, God is perfect, governs for the universe, governs 
for eternity — your faith will remain unshaken, though the earth 
be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the 
sea. 

The same may be said in regard to other first truths of religion. 
Having your faith settled in them, you will be little exposed to 
be carried away, or even much troubled by whatever winds of 
unbelief and skepticism may sweep around you. If you have 
a firm faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures, you will be very 
little tried with what is incomprehensible and mysterious in the 
doctrine of the Trinity and of the Divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ; for you will rest your faith in that doctrine on the testi- 
mony of God's word, and patiently wait for the light of a coming 
day to clear up what you can not now understand respecting it. 
If you have a settled faith in the great principles of the divine 
moral government established over the world, you will be in no 
danger of doubting, or calling in question the great Christian 
doctrine of atonement made by the sufferings and death of 
Christ in our stead or as our substitute; for you will feel that 
such an atonement is essential to maintain the law and govern- 
ment of the Most High, and that it opens the only way in which 
pardon and salvation can be extended to guilty man. So if 
you are thoroughly convinced of the doctrine of man's deprav- 
ity; if you fully believe that, in his natural state, he is dead in 
sin, destitute of love to God and wholly unfit for his service 
and kingdom — and this is the doctrine of the Scriptures — you 
will never doubt the necessity or reality of regeneration by the 
Holy Spirit ; for you will see that man needs just such a change 
.as is meant by regeneration, and without it, can never be fit to 
enter the kingdom of heaven. Least of all will you ever be dis- 
posed to call in question the truth of this doctrine, if you are 
yourself a Christian; for you will have the witness in your own 
experience to the reality of the change implied in it, and will 
know assuredly that, if the Holy Spirit had not interposed by 
his agency to make you a new creature in Christ, you would 
still have been in your sins. The same may be said of all the 
other truths of religion. Be settled in first principles, and you 
will hold fast these truths with little difficulty, for they will lie 
in your mind as a part of a connected system of truth; and 



CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 25 

understanding the foundation principles of the system, your 
faith in all its parts will be the more clear and the more thor- 
oughly established. 

2. Another direction for establishing your faith so as to ex- 
clude unbelief, is, to cultivate the spirit of faith, which is a spirit 
of humble docility, and of filial confidence in God. In propor- 
tion as such a spirit grows and gains ascendency in the bosom, 
it will bar out the entrance of unbelief, and bring the mind to 
rest on the basis of a calm, settled faith. For after all, it is 
true in more senses than the one originally intended in the 
text ; — with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That 
is, it is with the heart, not less than with the intellect, that we 
apprehend and believe the great truths which are unto salva- 
tion. A right state of heart, a heart imbued with the spirit of 
faith and love, wonderfully clears the mind of unbelief and 
acts on the truth with convincing light and power. We all 
know this to be true from experience. When we are in a right 
state of mind, humble, dutiful, prayerful, we much more readily 
understand and believe the truths of God's word, than when 
under the influence of a spirit of worldliness and sloth. In 
the latter case, the eye of faith becomes dim ; a mist and a 
darkness gather over even the plainest truths of religion, and 
the mind becomes the prey of skepticism and unbelief. Hence 
it is, that impenitent men are so apt to be unbelieving in re- 
gard to the great truths of God's word. They have not the 
spirit of faith, are in an irreligious, worldly state of mind ; and 
this, while it unfits them for the exercise of faith in divine 
objects, disposes them to love darkness rather than light, and 
to embrace error rather than truth. It is then a direction of 
primary importance, if you would be free from harrassing 
doubts and difficulties in respect to the truths of religion and 
enjoy a firm, settled faith, that you keep your heart in the love 
of God, that you cultivate a humble, confiding, trustful spirit, 
and that sitting daily at the feet of Jesus, you keep your mind 
open to receive his teachings, and lay them up as treasures by 
which your faith is to be enriched and made strong. This is 
the proper cure of unbelief; and without this, logic and argu- 
ment are of little avail. The serpents of skepticism and doubt 
will still lie coiled up in your bosom, ready at any moment to 
thrust out their fangs and inject their poison, and will only be- 
come the more active and troublesome by all your reasonings 
and speculations respecting divine things. 



26 CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

3. A third direction in relation to this subject, is, that you 
occupy your mind about things knowable, rather than the oppo- 
site. There are limits to our knowledge in respect to all 
things, and certainly in respect to God and his truth ; and our 
wisdom is to confine ourselves within these limits ; to be satis- 
fied with what we may there learn, and not intrude into re- 
gions where, from the nature of the case, we can not know 
anything with certainty, and can only speculate and conjecture, 
in endless mazes lost. God has revealed enough of himself, of 
the principles of his government, of his purposes and ways, 
and of the character, duty and destiny of man, for all prac- 
tical, saving purposes ; and if we confine our inquiries to what 
he has revealed, we shall discover all that is necessary for us 
to know in our present state of being, and our faith will be 
satisfied, because what is presented for our belief has upon it 
the impress of divine authority, and we can receive it for cer- 
tainty. But while God has revealed all that it is needful for 
us to know and believe to guide us in duty and make us wise 
unto salvation, he has revealed nothing to gratify our curiosity 
or our love of vain speculation. The Bible is a plain book in 
all essential articles of faith and practice, and if we take that 
book for our guide, we shall find it a light to our feet and a 
lamp to our path ; and the longer and the more faithfully we 
follow it, the clearer the light which it will shed on our way, 
and the stronger the faith it will inspire within us. 

But if we travel beyond the record ; if we attempt to know 
what can not be known, and speculate about matters that are 
too high for us, or which lie beyond the legitimate sphere of 
our faculties, aspiring to be wise above what is written, the 
only effect will be to fill the mind with vague, unprofitable 
notions ; to give a wider range to unbelief and skepticism, and 
to throw greater darkness and obscurity over what is really 
true, and important to our salvation. Thousands have in this 
way forsaken the truth and wandered off into regions of doubt 
and darkness, from which they could never be recovered. Be 
satisfied then with knowing what is knowable ; follow where 
the Bible leads, and stop where that stops. Rest your faith 
on things that God has made plain ; and if you must needs 
speculate, let it be on matters of minor importance, and be sure 
you never obtrude the results of your speculations, either on 
yourself or on others, as articles of faith, but leave them in 
the region where they belong, among things doubtful, hypo- 



CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 27 

thetical, of little consequence to be known, and you will be 
safe. 

4. A fourth direction is, let not your ignorance outweigh 
your knowledge ; in other words, do not allow what you do 
know to be overthrown by what you do not know. Simple as 
this direction is, it is one of great importance to firmness of 
faith ; and it is in disregard of it, that many persons are al- 
ways unsettled in their faith, ever learning, but never able to 
come to an established belief of the truth. They seem to for- 
get that there is an essential difference between knowledge and 
ignorance, or between what a man does know and w^iat he 
does not know. This is the source of a great deal of doubt 
and skepticism in the minds* of men. But why should any 
fall under the influence of so great and so fatal a mistake ? 
Does it follow that because you do not know all truth, you do 
not know any truth ; or that because you may have doubt or 
difficulty in relation to some aspect or bearing of a particu- 
lar truth, you therefore know nothing with certainty in relation 
to it ? You know there is a God of infinite perfections who 
made and reigns over the world ; but you* do not know every- 
thing relating to his character and government ; will you there- 
fore give up what you do know, become a skeptic, and live 
and act as if there were no God ? You know that you are a 
sinner, and have need of God's mercy to pardon and save you ; 
but you do not know every thing .in respect to the origin of sin, 
nor why you and your fellow men are what you are, in a state 
of apostacy from God and in danger of final ruin ; will you 
therefore renounce what you actually know of your character 
and condition as a sinner, and go on without seeking divine 
mercy to meet results in eternity ? You know that Christ 
died to save sinners, and that his atonement is sufficient for 
all ; you know that you are invited to come to him for salva- 
tion, and you have his promise that if you come you shall in 
no wise be cast out ; and you know further that you must die, 
that after death cometh the judgment, and that, dying in your 
sins, you shall go away with the wicked into everlasting pun- 
ishment. You know these things, for they are revealed to you 
in the word of God, and not one jot or tittle of them shall fail, 
but all shall be fulfilled. Yet there are some things relating 
to the truths here adverted to, which you do not know and 
which may perhaps lie in your mind in the shape of difficul- 
ties, objections. What then ? Will you allow what you do 



28 CONFLICT OP FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

not know to outweigh what you do know, give up your knowl- 
edge for your ignorance, neglect the salvation of Christ, make 
no preparation for death and the judgment, and leave eternity 
to take care for itself? Is this wise, is it safe ; is it acting in 
the concerns of eternity, as you do in the concerns of time ? 
Surely not. Yet it is just what multitudes are every day 
doing around and in the midst of us ; following their ignorance 
rather than their knowledge ; their unbelief, rather than their 
belief ; and so are ever tossed on the waves of skepticism and 
doubt, floating onward amid darkness and fear to the gulf of 
perdition, — a just recompense surely for loving darkness rather 
than light, and misty error rather than clear, bright truth. 

5. A fifth direction for excluding unbelief and settling the 
mind in firm faith is to act on the ground of what we do be- 
lieve ; is to obey the truth as far as we know it. It is the 
promise of Christ that he who doeth the will of God shall 
know his doctrine ; and he who makes a right use of the light 
he has, shall have more. This is a principle of great impor- 
tance in settling our faith in the truths of God's word. There 
is nothing like doing the will of God to clear the mind of un- 
belief and bring into it the full lisht of truth. It is an effectual 
cure for infidelity and skepticism of every kind, as has been 
proved by thousands of experiments. You are troubled, I 
will suppose, in regard to certain truths of the Bible, or, it 
may be, in regard to the truth of the Bible itself. Now I 
know of no direction so likely to bring you the relief you need 
and settle your mind in firm faith, as to take the Bible and sit 
down to the study of it with a sincere desire and purpose to 
know and obey the truth. It would do more than the most 
elaborate treatises to banish doubt and settle your belief in the 
teachings of God's word. In setting yourself to know and do 
the will of God just as fast and as far as you know it, you as- 
sume a state of mind best adapted to receive the lessons of the 
divine word ; and you have assurance that you shall be led 
into the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Pray, seek, 
obey, love, trust, do, — this is the grand prescription for attaining 
the full assurance of faith ; and none ever made trial of it and 
were disappointed. 

On the contrary, if you fail to act up to what you do know ; if 
you hold the truth in unrighteousness, and are irreligious and 
worldly minded in your habits and manner of life, you may be 
assured that the light that is in you will become darkness ; 



CONFLICT OP FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 29 

your mind will be filled with perplexity and doubt even in 
respect to the plainest truths, and you will wander more and 
more into error and skepticism ; will grope in the day time as 
in the night, will grope as if you had no eyes, and finally stum- 
ble and fall and perish. This is the origin, this is the progress, 
and this the end of by far the greatest part of the skepticism 
and unbelief of which the world is so full. 

6. When perplexed and tried in regard to any of the truths 
of religion, learn to wait. The time is not distant when what 
is now obscure will be made plain ; when what is now uncer- 
tain will be made certain, and you shall see all things in the 
full, clear light of day, — when you shall no longer, as now, see 
through a glass darkly but face to face ; see as you are seen, 
and know as you are known. The manner in which divine 
truth is revealed in the Bible, it should ever be remembered, 
is suited to a state of probation and trial. It is not set before 
you in demonstration, or in such fullness of evidence as to 
compel belief, whether you will or not ; but in such measure 
and form as is adapted to try your heart, develop your char- 
acter, and fit you for the retributions of a future state. It is 
made known with sufficient clearness to enlist your faith, in- 
spdre your love, and engage your obedience, if you are of a 
huaoble, confiding and teachable mind ; but it is, at the same 
time, left involved in sufficient obscurity and difficulty to give 
ample scope for the workings of a skeptical, unbelieving heart ; 
and it gives rope enough, if I may so speak, to allow any, who 
choose to do so, or who hate the truth and refuse to obey it, to 
wander off and lose themselves in the wide regions of infi- 
delity, indifference and doubt. This great design of the Bible 
to try the hearts and form the characters of men, should ever 
be kept in mind, when searching for, and reflecting on its 
truths and duties ; and if, while engaged in a candid, prayerful 
study of the scriptures, we may not be able to know all we 
wish to know, or have all our doubts and difficulties removed, 
we should be thankful for what light we have, follow it obe- 
diently, and patiently wait the teachings of eternity, near at 
hand, when all will be made plain. We are now, as it were, 
in a state of infancy, and can at best know but little ; but 
enough for our training up for that higher and more perfect 
state of being for which the present is only preparatory. That 
is a state of perfect knowledge, of perfect holiness, and perfect 
blessedness. And there, if through grace we attain to that 



30 CONFLICT OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF. 

state, our minds, emancipated from the present weakness and 
darkness that encompass and enthrall them, will be in a con- 
dition to understand divine things, and to receive the full 
knowledge of the glory of God as it shines in the face of Jesus 
Christ. We shall be before the throne, amid the splendors of 
heavenly light, made equal unto the angels, with God for our 
Teacher, and eternity for our learning. Well may we wait a 
little while for the dawning of that day so near to us, and so 
full of light and of blessedness. We are now children at 
school ; we are learning the elements, the a b c of divine 
knowledge ; and the discipline to which we are subjected 
must, of necessity, involve much which, in our present igno- 
rance and shortsightedness, we can not understand nor ex- 
plain. Wait a little, I say, and all will be made plain. 
And, delightful it is, to look forward to a day, fast approaching, 
when all doubt, all perplexity, all ignorance and error shall 
flee away, and we shall enter into a state where we shall see 
sa we are seen and know as we are known. 

In the meantime, let us remember that if we would be pre- 
pared for that state and enter into its joys when this erring, im- 
perfect life is over, we must here approve ourselves the 
humble, docile, obedient scholars of the great Teacher, our 
Lord Jesus Christ ; sitting meekly and lovingly at his feet, 
ready to receive all his instructions, and to do all his will. In 
failure of this, we shall wander from the great, the only source 
of light, of peace and salvation ; the darkness of sin, of spir- 
itual ignorance and error will thicken along our path, as we 
pursue the journey of life ; and, in the final result, we shall 
be shut out from the light, the glory and the blessedness of 
heaven, and sink in a statq of everlasting darkness and des- 
pair. 



SERMON III. 



A man's religion worth what it costs him. 

Matthew 13: 45, 46. Again the kingdom of heaven is like nnto a mer- 
chantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great 
price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 

The design of this brief, but very beautiful parable, is to rep- 
resent the value of true religion, and the duty and wisdom of 
seeking the possession of it as a personal treasure, however 
much it may cost us. It is compared to a goodly pearl, which 
must be drawn up from the bottom of the sea, and when found, 
is of so great price that it costs a man all that he has to pur- 
chase it ; and he is divinely wise who obtains it even at so 
great a cost. A man, it is said, may buy gold at too dear a 
rate ; but not the pearl spoken of in the text. That is a treas- 
ure of so great value, that it would be the highest wisdom for 
one to part with all he had to possess it. It is not a treasure, 
it should be remarked, which is easily found, or easily obtained. 
There are difficulties to be overcome, and sacrifices to be made, 
before we can get possession of it. But cost what it may, he 
is an infinite gainer who obtains it. And it may be added, 
that unlike treasures of an earthly nature, that of which I here 
speak, true religion, is increased in value, in proportion to 
what it costs to obtain it. This is the thought I propose to 
illustrate in the present discourse. It may be thus stated ; — 

A man's religion is worth what it costs him. I mean, of 
course, true religion, in distinction from any and all forms of 
false religion. The religion of pagans and mohammedans, and 
of the various sects, who are devoted to a corrupted Chris- 
tianity, often costs them a great deal of toil, self denial and 
suffering, but it is worth nothing, and that because it is based 
on superstition and error, and has no tendency to purify and 
fit the soul for the service and kingdom of God. True reli- 
gion is the conformity of our feelings, sentiments and lives to 
4 



32 A man's religion worth 

the teachings of God's word. It includes repentance of sin, 
faith in Christ, love to the character and service of God, and 
obedience to him in all those duties which are enjoined in the 
scriptures as distinctive of the Christian character, and essen- 
tial as conditions of pardon and acceptance with God. 

Now this religion is not natural to the heart of man, nor is 
it of easy attainment. It is not inherited by birth, nor does it 
grow up in us as a mere matter of culture or education. Man 
is fallen and ruined in sin, an apostate from God, and by na- 
ture destitute of holiness, and prone to evil. His natural ten- 
dencies are all away from God. He seeks his happiness in the 
things of earth and time, while the great things which relate 
to God, and the interests of the soul, are put away in neglect 
and dislike. I state this as a matter of fact. I go into no ar- 
gument here in proof of it. Every one may know it to be 
true by appealing to his own consciousness, as it unquestionably 
is true according to universal experience and the teachings of 
the Bible. 

Now to beings thus fallen, sinful, lost, in the midst of an 
evil and tempting world, and surrounded on every side with 
influences which operate to inflame their moral maladies and 
confirm them in estrangement from God, — to beings of this 
character and in this situation, religion is never an easy attain- 
ment, nor is it of easy cultivation and improvement, when 
it is attained. Before any one can become religious in the 
proper sense of the term, he must be awakened from the 
slumbers of a false security ; he must be convinced of his lost 
estate as a transgressor of God's law ; must renounce his sins 
and yield himself to Christ in humble subniission, obedience 
and faith. In a word, he must pass through the straight and 
narrow gate of conversion, must become a new creature in 
Christ, changed, radically changed, in his feelings, habits and 
purposes of life. Now all this is but the commencement of 
religion in the soul, is just entering in at the straight gate, and 
beginning the Christian life. Yet even this, it is obvious, 
must cost something, must cost much, much serious thought, 
and earnest endeavor, and self denial and renunciation of the 
world. But when you have gone thus far, the work, the great 
work of religion is but just begun. You have entered into the 
path of life, but you have only entered into it ; the path itself 
is yet before you, and you are called to deny yourself, to take 
up the cross and follow on in the way you have begun, perse- 



WHAT IT COSTS HIM. 33 

vering therein unto tlie end, if you would gain the victory and 
win the prize set before you. All this again will cost you 
something, cost you much ; and you should at the beginning 
sit down and deliberately count the cost, as directed by the 
Saviour, and make up your mind, whether you are willing to 
meet the difficulties and make the sacrifices which lie before 
you in a religious life. It is no idle musing, it is no transient 
impulse, it is no half formed or half kept resolution, no being reli- 
gious in an easy, fashionable way, or in a way of mere profession 
and form, that will suffice to purchase for you the pearl of great 
price. The merchantman mentioned in our text, as having pos- 
sessed himself of that pearl, is represented as having sold all he 
had to buy it. And so must you, so must all who would possess 
the present and eternal good included in true religion. For 
thus has the Saviour directed, — whosoever he be of you that 
forsaketh not all that he hath, — all in spirit, and all in fact, if 
need he, can not be my disciple. 

My design in the remarks now made is to show that religion, 
the religion that sanctifies and saves the soul, costs something, 
costs much. It is not a form, a profession, a ceremonious 
observance, but an internal, life-giving and life-controlling prin- 
ciple. In its beginning, progress and termination, it is con- 
nected with diligent care and watchfulness, with resistance of 
the temptations of the world, separation from its spirit, its cus- 
toms and sins, and continuing faithful unto death in devotion 
to the service and kingdom of God. 

But while true religion costs something, costs much, in the 
sense now explained, I wish to show that every man's religion 
is worth what it costs him, or is likely to be increased in value 
in proportion to what it costs him. If it costs him little, it is 
worth but little ; if it costs him much, it is worth much. If it 
creeps into his bosom, he knows not how, and remains there 
he knows not why, prompting to little or no effiDrt, self-de- 
nial, watchfulness and prayer, but leaving him in self-indul- 
gence and ease, it will be of little worth either to himself or 
others. On the other hand, if a man's religion, in its begin- 
ning, brings with it a strong conviction of sin, thorough repent- 
ance, and a humble, unreserved consecration to God, and if it 
retains its place in the bosom in connection with much internal 
experience, and culture, with daily seeking to know and do 
the will of God, that man's religion will be of great worth 
both to himself and his fellow men; it will have character, 



34 A man's religion "WORTH 

internal strength, and fruitfulness in the life ; it will stand by 
him in times of difficulty and trial, and secure for him a crown 
of distinguished honor in heaven. 

Let me illustrate this by a few examples. Abraham's reli- 
gion was worth much, and it cost him much. He is set before 
us in the scriptures as an eminent example of faith and piety, 
called by way of distinction, the friend of God, and father of 
the faithful. But he attained to this eminence only at a great 
cost. He was early summoned to go out from his country and 
kindred, not knowing whither he went, to sojourn in a strange 
land ; and his religion was established and matured amidst 
many trials, especially that of being called to offer up his son 
Isaac, in consequence of which, he received the promise of 
faith, and became the father of all them that believe. 

Moses' religion cost him much, and it was worth much. 
Though adopted by the daughter of Pharoah as her son, and 
brought up in the royal family, with all the treasures and 
honors of Egypt before him, yet, for conscience sake, he re- 
nounced them all, cast in his lot with the people of God, and 
accounted even the reproaches of Christ greater riches than 
the treasures of Egypt ; for he had respect unto the recom- 
pense of reward. Forty years his religion was maturing 
amidst the toils, self denials and suffering endured in the wil- 
derness, and it was in this way that his character was perfected, 
and himself fitted for his transfer to heaven. 

Daniel's religion cost him much, and it was worth much. 
While yet a youth he was carried away captive to Babylon. 
There amidst the temptations and trials incident to his condi- 
tion, he retained his integrity, remained steadfast in his devo- 
tion to the fear and service of God, and calmly and firmly ad- 
hered to his religion, in defiance of the threats of the king, 
and the danger of being thrown into the den of lions. It was 
thus that his religion was made what it was ; firm, consistent, 
decided, and afforded him abundant joy, consolation and hope, 
under circumstances of the most extreme difficulty and trial. 

Paul's religion cost him much, and it was worth much. It 
commenced in a thorough work of the law in his soul. He 
was slain by the law, as he expresses it. This prepared him 
to receive the grace of the gospel in great humility, gratitude 
and love ; and he felt, through life, that he could never do 
enough to testify his grateful sense of that mercy which had 
interposed to save him, a blasphemer and persecutor. Accord- 



WHAT IT COSTS HIM. 35 

ingly he accounted all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and he was ready to suf- 
fer the loss of all things, if so he might win him as his Saviour, 
and promote his cause in the salvation of men. The religion 
of Paul was pre-eminently a costly religion ; and because it 
was so, it had a deep, abiding place in his soul ; it -was full of 
joy, of life and peace and hope, and yielded an abundance of 
fruit to the glory of God and the good of mankind. 

Much the same might be said of the other Apostles and of 
the primitive Christians generally. Their rehgion cost them a 
great deal. It led them to forsake all for Christ, and in conse- 
quence of this they had dwelling in them consolations and 
hopes which the world could neither give nor take away. 
That religion, for the sake of which they endured so much, 
was in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life ; 
and it had this character because it was planted deep in the 
soul, and was matured amid toil, and duties and sacrifices en- 
dured for Christ and his cause. 

If we now descend to modern times, we shall find abundant 
examples to illustrate the truth of the position that a man's 
religion is worth what it costs him. How was it that John 
Banyan's religion shone so brightly in his day, and has sent 
down to our times so eflficient and hallowed an influence to 
guide pilgrims on their way to the celestial city ? Read his 
biography and you will be at no loss for an answer. He lived 
in troublous times. His early religious experience was strongly 
marked. He knew the bitterness of long and painful convic- 
tion of sin ; the strugglings of a mind sinking in the darkness 
and despair of conscious, unpardoned guilt ; and his deepest 
and most useful lessons in the divine life were learnt, not in 
self indulgence and ease, but in persecution and suffering for 
Christ's sake, during twelve years' confinement in Bedford 
jail. There he matured his Christian graces ; there he studied 
his theology, and there he wrote that incomparable book, the 
Pilgrim's Progress, which will continue to instruct, delight and 
help travelers on their way to heaven, till the end of time. 

So it was with the great body of our Puritan and Non-con- 
formist ancestors. They were trained in the school of afflic- 
tion. They endured great privations and sufferings in the 
cause of Christ, or on account of their religion. And their 
religion, which cost them a great deal, was worth a great deal. 
It was deeply imbued with the spirit and teachings of the 



36 A man's religion worth 

Bible. It was instinct with life and power. It was eminently 
devotional, self denying and self sacrificing, and its fruits remain 
to the present day, widely blessing our own and other lands. 

Further to illustrate the sentiment under consideration, I 
may refer to the case of Thomas Scott, author of the Family 
Bible. Read his Force of Truth, in which he relates the 
process of his conversion, and the deep, painful exercises of his 
mind in coming to the knowledge of evangelical religion, and 
carrying out his views in his subsequent life, and you will at 
once discover the secret of that deep-toned, rich and mature 
spirit of piety which so remarkably distinguished his ministry 
and breathes in all his writings. I might refer also to Brain- 
ard, to Edwards, to Hopkins, to Payson, and a long catalogue 
of others, who have been eminent for their religion ; distin- 
guished for piety and usefulness in the service of Christ, and 
we should find this to be true of all of them ; their religion 
cost them much, much of conviction and penitence in its begin- 
ning ; of humility, watchfulness and self denial in its growth, 
and of earnest, persevering endeavors to do the will of God 
in the whole course of life. A living, consistent, faithful reli- 
gion is never of spontaneous growth. It does not spring up in 
the bosom by chance ; nor is it attained by heartless wishes, or 
inconstant, fitful eJBTorts. It has its seat amid the deep springs 
of feeling and action in the inner man. It enlists the un- 
derstandings the conscience, the heart; it is nurtured with 
pains taking ; it flourishes best and grows strongest, and yields 
most abundant fruit in the midst of labors, sacrifices and self 
denials endured for Christ and his cause. Universally, it will 
be found true that that religion is worth the most, is firmest 
^nd most reliable, and most abounds in peace and hope which 
has grown up out of a deep, thorough, personal experience ; 
which has been maintained in the midst of internal and out- 
ward conflicts, and has been exercised mucli in works of self- 
denial, beneficence and love. Hence the faithful missionaries 
who forsake all for Christ, and the devoted disciples at home 
who make the largest sacrifices in the cause of truth and right- 
<eousness, are of all men the most likely to possess the warmest 
and most devoted type of piety, to find the way to heaven the 
least obstructed, ;^and to enjoy the greatest light, and comfort 
- and peace. 

Nor is the principle here indicated at all peculiar to religion. 
Nothing great or good is attained in this world without cost ; 



WHAT IT COSTS HIM. 37 

and usually the cost is in proportion to the value of the thing 
attained. How is talent evolved, or character formed, or 
scholarship attained, or eminence in anything valuable arrived 
at, but by self denial, and toil and effort ? The young man 
who is thrown upon his own resources, who is obliged to strug- 
gle his way in life in the midst of difficulties, and rises only by 
dint of toil and effort, is h thousand times more likely to suc- 
ceed, than one who is nursed in ease and is borne along, not 
by his own, but by the help of others. The first scholars and 
the ablest men, and the worthiest characters in every depart- 
ment of life, are, with very few exceptions, found among those 
who have had to overcome difficulties, and have made themselves 
what they are at a great cost of patient self denial and pains 
taking effort. "When, therefore, it is said, that a man's religion 
is worth what it costs him, we do but announce a principle of 
general application in reference to the attainment of whatever 
is great and good and excellent. * 

Let me here suggest a few reasons why a man's religion is 
worth what it costs him. And, 

1. He, whose religion costs him much, will be likely to un- 
derstand well the grounds of it. He has been down to the 
bottom, as we say, and knows wh^re his foundation is. He 
will know the evil of sin and his desert of punishment on ac- 
count of it. He will know the preciousness of that mercy 
which pardons and saves the guilty, and he will be grateful 
for it, as exercised in his own case, all his days. He will 
know the nature and necessity of regeneration, for it is a 
change which he has experienced in his own soul. He will 
know the glory and excellency of the person and work of 
Christ, for he has received him, in faith and love, as his 
Saviour, and rests all his hopes for eternity on his atoning 
blood and mediation. These great truths lie at the foundation 
of his religion, and he knows them, not by tradition or specu- 
lation, but by an inward heartfelt experience of them. So 
Paul knew the grounds of his religion ; and so all know the 
grounds of their religion, who have attained it by much cost 
of experience, effort, study and prayer. They are of those 
who dig deep and build their house on a rock, and therefore it 
stands in the day of trial. 

. 2; He whose religion has cost him much will have evidence of 
its genuineness. It is a tried religion. It has been tested by 
sacrifices and efforts made to attain and to cultivate it ; and its 



38 A man's religion worth 

having endured temptations and grown up amidst conflicts and 
trials is proof to him that it is of the right kind, and will stand 
by and support him through life and on the great day of ac- 
count. Abraham, it may be presumed, never once doubted 
the sincerity of his friendship to God, or his interest in his 
favor, after he had cheerfully complied with the divine com- 
mand to offer up his son Isaac. Daniel could have no ques- 
tion as to the reality and strength of his religious principles, 
after he had tested them in the lion's den ; and Paul could not 
but attain to the full assurance of faith and hope, while he 
went cheerfully forward in duty, counting all things but loss 
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. 
And so with all who maintain their religion at any great cost 
of personal ease, worldly advantage or profit. It is a process 
which rarely fails to clear away all doubt and settle the mind 
in the enjoyment of confirmed peace and hope in God. 

3. If a man's religion costs much it will be likely to make 
him happy in proportion to what it costs him. If in its 
commencement it brings with it a deep sense of sin and 
ruin, it will give great joy and peace in a sense of pardon, 
and deliverance from condemnation. If it maintains its place 
in the bosom in the midst of much conflict and trial, and 
is nurtured and strengthened by much watchfulness, diligent 
culture and prayer, it will encourage and animate by a view of 
victories won and brighter prospects of heaven. If it sepa- 
rates its subject from the world, keeps him close in the path of 
duty, living near to God, and doing much for the glory of his 
name and the promotion of his cause, it will open before him 
the treasures of the divine promises, shed upon him the light 
of God's countenance, and cause him to rejoice continually in 
the hope of his glory. A costly religion and a happy religion 
always go together ; according to these words of our Saviour, 
"There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, 
or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall 
not receive manifold more in the present time, and in the 
world to come life everlasting." This is not only theoretically, 
but practically and experimentally true. The way to be happy 
in God's service is to be hearty in that service, devoted to it 
and living for it. It should not grieve us then, but rather make 
us joyful and happy, when we are called to laborious duties in 
Christ's cause ; to make sacrifices of ease, of property, of time 
and strength for the honor of his name and the advancement of 



"WHAT IT COSTS HIM, 39 

his kingdom on earth. This is a part of our religion, if it be 
the true religion ; and while in the exercise of its spirit and in 
obedience to its dictates, we go forth to do the will of God, 
whatever that will be, or whatever it may cost us, we may rest 
assured that he, whom we thus strive to honor and obey, will 
not leave us alone, but will be with us by his gracious presence 
and spirit, making our way in life joyous and happy, and finally 
crowning us with immortal blessedness in his kingdom of glory. 

4. He, whose religion costs him much, will have a rich and 
varied experience to fall back upon in times of difficulty and 
trial. He will remember all the way in which the Lord his 
God has led him on in the divine life ; how he was delivered 
from his state of sin and ruin ; how he was brought to embrace 
the offers of the gospel, to set his hope in Christ, and how, 
while he has been pursuing his Christian course, he has expe- 
rienced, from time to time, fresh tokens of the loving kindness 
and tender mercy of his God ; aiding him in duty, cheering 
him on his way, and giving him brighter and still brighter 
hopes of heaven. An experience like this is of unspeakable 
value, a source of the greatest comfort and support in days of 
darkness and trial, and especially in the solemn and trying hour 
of death. But it is never found as the result of a superficial, 
cheap religion. It is he who begins to serve God in youth and 
continues to serve him in age, who sets Christ before him as 
his example, and in obedience to his command, denies himself, 
takes up his cross and follows him wherever he directs the 
way, — he it is whose experience will shed light upon the dark- 
some hour, and stand by and support him amid the changes 
and trials of life and animate him with bright visions of heaven 
when earthly things are passing from him. I add, 

5. He whose religion has cost him much, will be likely to 
feel its value in respect to others. Such an one knows what it 
is to be lost, and what it is to be saved. He knows what it is 
to be without Christ, and what it is to be in Christ ; to have an 
interest in his saving grace and a well grounded hope of eter- 
nal life through him. And now his religion, which embraces 
these great truths as matters of personal experience, naturally 
awakens in him a sympathy for others. His bowels of com- 
passion are moved for them in their lost estate, and he earn- 
estly desires that they may possess that salvation which he has 
found so precious to his own soul. Hence it will be found, 
that those Christians who have had the deepest experience of 



40 A man's religion worth 

divine things, who know most thoroughly, in their own hearts, 
what is meant by conviction and conversion, and have been led 
on in the divine life with much conflict and trial endured for 
Christ and his cause, — they are the ones who feel most and do 
most and pray most for the salvation of others perishing in sin. 
They are the ones who seek out the ignorant and the lost in 
the highways and hedges of the land ; who sustain by their 
contributions and prayers the benevolent operations of the day, 
and who are most ready unto all good works, relating to the 
glory of Christ and the salvation of men. And their religion, 
which here costs much and does much for the honor of God 
and the good of mankind, while it affords them now a measure 
of light and peace and hope which the self-indulgent and su- 
perficial Christian knows nothing of, will secure for them dis- 
tinguished rewards in heaven, crowns of glory that never fade 
away. 

In conclusion, I am led to remark, 

1. We may learn froni what has been said, the great im- 
portance of what the old writers call the law work in conver- 
sion. This work consists in a thorough conviction of the evil 
of sin as a violation of God's law, and of desert of punishment 
on account of that violation. And the importance of such a 
work arises from the fact, that he in whom it is deeply wrought, 
learns his guilty and miserable state as a sinner, is made hum- 
ble and contrite in view of his character and condition as one 
lost in sin, and is thus prepared to appreciate, in some proper 
manner, the riches of that grace which pardons and saves him. 
He who knows the law in its condemning power, and the gos- 
pel in its power to bring peace and salvation to the soul, has an 
experience that will shed a softening, subduing influence over 
his whole character, make him reverent and humble before 
God, affectionate and grateful towards his Saviour, studious of 

■ duty and faithful unto death. He will never forget the worm- 
wood and the gall, nor the preciousness of God's redeeming 
and restoring mercy, and he will be constrained, by gratitude 
and love, to live not unto himself, but unto him who died for 
him and rose again. 

2. If religion is worth what it costs, then a religion that 
costs nothing is worth nothing. Of what value is a religion 
that dispenses with the necessity of conviction of sin, regen- 
eration by the Holy Spirit, which makes light of the duty of 
self denial, taking up the cross and following Christ in a Hfe 



"WHAT IT COSTS HIM. 41 

of watchfulness and prayer, and whicli seeks to reconcile 
love to God with conformity to the world, and a hope of 
heaven with doing little or nothing for the glory of Christ and 
the advancement of his cause ? There is a great deal of this 
kind of religion, both in the church and out of it, in these days. 
But what is it worth ? Will it bring pardon and reconcilia- 
tiom to God ; will it renew and sanctify the heart ; will it give 
you joy and peace in believing, support you in trials, jQt you 
for death, or prepare you to dwell with God in heaven ? 
Nothing of all this. A costless religion is a worthless religion. 
It does no good to him who possesses it, nor to those who wit- 
ness it. Its only influence is to deceive, to stupefy and destroy. 
There is no such thing as a costless religion known in the 
Bible. The religion, which is there described as essential to 
salvation, is a religion of conviction and conversion, of self- 
denial, watchfulness and coming out from the world ; of hun- 
gering and thirsting after righteousness, of running with perse- 
verence the Christian race, faithful unto the end. This is the 
religion of the Bible, the religion of the Holy Spirit's produc- 
ing, and that which is not so is of very little value, either as a 
source of enjoyment, or as a means of fitting the soul for 
heaven. 

3. We see in the view of this subject, why sinners are so 
unwilling to embrace Christ and become truly religious. It 
costs too much. They are not willing to be convicted and con- 
verted. They are not willing to renounce the pleasures and 
sins of the world, to deny themselves, take up the cross and 
follow Christ in a life of holy obedience and devotion to his 
service. This in their view is all loss and no gain. They 
think it can bring only sadness into the bosom and impose only 
painful restraints on the life ; and they therefore put from them 
the claims of religion and choose their portion in this world. 
This is the reason and the only reason why any person in this 
assembly is in a state of impenitence and estrangement from 
God. The pearl of great price costs too much. And you are 
not willing, like the merchantman in our text, to sell all you 
have to buy it ; in other words, to part with your sins in order 
to win Christ. But this you must do, every one, or never pos- 
sess the priceless treasure, but die without it and remain poor 
and miserable during eternity. 

4. Finally, our subject furnishes a proper standard by which 
every one may estimate the value of his religion. What does 



42 SECOND CONVERSION. 

it cost you ? What did it cost you in its beginning, what in 
its progress, and what is it costing you now ? — what of earnest- 
ness, laboriousness, watchfulness and prayer? An honest 
answer to these plain questions will give a just estimate of the 
real worth of your religion, and show also how much ground 
you have to hope that it will be accepted and approved on the 
great day of trial and judgment. Search then and see how 
this matter stands ; and may God so guide your search that 
there shall be no mistake in the result, and no disappointment 
experienced in the reckoning before God's bar at the last day. 



SERMON lY. 

SECOND CONVERSION. 

Luke xxii. 32. When thon art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

It is not to be inferred from this language that Peter was an 
unconverted man previous to his being thus addressed by his 
Divine Master. He was doubtless a sincere convert, a true 
disciple, and had been from the time he was called of Christ to 
be his follower. But he needed more instruction, and a deeper 
experience in divine things, to qualify him for the work which 
he was appointed to do in the world. Our Savior, in addressing 
him as he did, had in view the sad dereliction of duty of which 
Peter was guilty, when, overcome by temptation, he thrice de- 
nied that he knew his Lord. That was a sin of deep ingrati- 
tude and guilt, and one which, only a few hours before, Peter 
thought himself incapable of committing, and repeatedly avowed 
the most sincere and devoted love to his Lord and Saviour. 
But the trial came, and he was overcome by it, and fell into the 



SECOND CONVERSION. 43 

very sin of wMcli he had been solemnly forewarned by his 
Master. He was thus taught his weakness and dependence; 
his Self-confidence was rebuked, and he was made to feel ever 
after that he needed to be upheld and guided by strength from 
above. Our Saviour, knowing his sincerity and compassionating 
his weakness, kindly said to him, in close connection with the 
warning he had given him of approaching danger, " But I have 
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Then follows our text 
— "and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren:" 
— when thou art recovered from thy fall, and restored to peace 
of mind and to a holier and more confirmed love towards me 
and my cause, then help thy brethren ; employ the grace and 
strength and larger experience in divine things, derived from 
a new and deeper conversion, to aid and comfort thy feUow- 
disciples, and to draw others to my love and service. 

The text thus explained, suggests for our consideration this 
serious practical truth — Professing Christians often need a sec- 
ond conversion to qualify them to do good, and to be spiritually 
useful to others. In illustrating this truth I shall show — 

I. What is meant by such conversion. 

II. Its reality as a matter of experience. And, 

III. Its necessity to prepare one to be truly and eminently 
useful in promoting the spiritual good of others. 

I. What, then, is meant by second conversion; how much is 
implied in it? Now, when I speak of second conversion, I, of 
course, mean to imply that there has been a first conversion ; 
that is, a principle of true piety has been implanted in the 
bosom, but it has hitherto been there in a weak imperfect form. 
The heart has been changed, but the change is superficial and 
defective. The repentance is sincere, but not deep and thor- 
ough. The faith is real, but not strong and controlling. The 
love is genuine, but inconstant and feeble. The hope is on the 
whole well founded, but is obscure and often clouded with doubt 
and fear. And so of all the Christian graces ; they exist in him 
who has had a first conversion, but in an imperfect, partially 
developed state, weak, unstable, unsymmetrical, and bearing but 
little fruit in the life. Now the effect of a second conversion is 
to take the subject out of this low, inadequate and ineffective- 
state of piety, and raise him higher, and make him more faithful 
in the divine life. The antecedents of this change are often 
very similar to those that precede first conversion. It com- 
mences in a serious, scrutinizing view of one's spiritual state 
5 



44 SECOND CONVERSION. 

and prospects. The subject of this change becomes dissatisfied 
with his present type of religion. His Christian attainments 
seem very low and defective ; as far beneath the proper stand- 
ard of duty as they are unworthy of his profession and privi- 
legesl He sees and he deeply feels that hitherto he has come 
short, in all respects, of what he might and ought to have been 
as a professed disciple of Christ. Frequently he is led to doubt 
the sincerity of his former conversion and to renounce his hope, 
as one on which he can no longer safely rely. In a word, he 
experiences much the same anxieties and convictions of sin and 
danger, as when he was first led to seek salvation, and, as he 
hop^d, found mercy at the foot of the cross. There he kneels 
again, and there again he finds peace and hope, and devotes 
himself anew to his God and Saviour, with a warmer and more 
unreserved consecration than ever. As he passes through this 
second conversion, as I call it, he seems to himself to enter into 
a new spiritual region. He sees divine things in a clearer and 
more affecting light than he ever did before. His religious af- 
fections are fuller, more abiding and more satisfying, and his 
whole interior Christian man seems animated with a higher life, 
and he goes forward, in the way of duty and heaven, with a 
constancy, peace and assurance of hope wholly unknown in his 
former conversion. 

I have described a strongly marked case, though by no means 
one of unfrequent occurrence. But many, at some period in 
their Christian course, pass through what may, very properly, 
be regarded as a second conversion, without the clearly defined 
and distinctive exercises here indicated. The change is more 
gradual, and less strongly marked in its process, but equally full 
and decisive in its results. As it often is in first conversion, so 
here, the subject is conscious of a great change in his Christian 
state ; but he can not trace the process, nor mark with exact- 
ness the different stages by which he has been led on to a higher 
degree of consecration to God and more habitual enjoyment in 
the divine life. Of the fact he is entirely conscious. He has 
been let loose from the bondage of sin. He knows what it is 
to rejoice in the liberty of a child of God. He has dwelling in 
him the filial spirit whereby he is enabled to call God his Father 
with humble confidence. He abides in his love. He knows 
the things which are freely given to him of God. And in this 
state of mind he can say with the Apostle— for me to live is 
Christ and to die is gain ; I know whom I have believed, and 



SECOND CONVERSION. 45 

am persuaded he will keep that which I have committed to him 
unto eternal life. 

If I have succeeded in giving you a distinct idea of what is 
meant by second conversion, the way is prepared — 

II. To show its reality. Here my appeal will be chiefly to 
facts. Look, then, at the apostles of our Lord at two distinct 
periods of their religious history. With the exception of Ju- 
das, they were all true converts, the subjects of a real -saving 
piety, from the time when Christ called them to be his follow- 
ers. But their views of the character and work of the Saviour, 
and of the nature and design of his kingdom, as also the meas- 
ure of their spirituality and devotedness to his service, were all 
exceedingly obscure and defective, till after his resurrection and 
ascension to glory. Nor indeed was the darkness of their 
minds and the earthliness of their affections effectually removed 
till after the day of Pentecost. That was the time of their re- 
conversion ; and it was much more strongly marked, in many 
of its aspects, than that which first introduced them into the 
family of Christ. From the time the spirit was shed down 
upon them in such copious measure on that memorable occasion, 
they seem to have become new creatures, in a far higher sense, 
than they had before experienced. They rose to a holier love, 
to a more spiritual faith and hope in Christ, and to a greater 
consecration to his service and glory. The change they expe- 
rienced appeared in a new and striking development of all the 
Christian graces, and in no one of them was this change more 
remarkable than in Peter. He was indeed converted again, as 
it was intimated he would be in our text; and he scarcely seems 
to be the same man when we contemplate him as he was in the 
early part of his history, and as he appeared in the maturer 
stages of his Christian experience, especially near the close of 
his life, when he penned those admirable epistles of his which 
breathe so much of the spirit of Christ and of heaven. 

Among the examples of later date, showing the reality of 
what I call second conversion, I may cite the case of the cele- 
brated Lady Huntington. She hopefully became a Christian 
in her youth ; but though her religion abounded in duties and 
observances, it afforded very little warmth or comfort to her 
soul. She wanted freedom, life, spirit, to bring her nearer to 
her Saviour, and to enable her to rejoice in him as her Saviour. 
She felt her deficiencies ; she was alarmed at her state ;' she 
longed for something better, more satisfying, and more eviden- 



46 SECOND CONVERSION. 

tial of a good hope in Christ, till at length, after years spent 
in a rehgion of creeds, of ritualism and forms, she was 
brought to cast herself wholly on Christ for peace and salvation. 
From that time, doubt and anxiety vanished, joy and peace 
filled her bosom, and her light henceforth shone brighter and 
brighter till the close of her long and eminently useful life. 

A somewhat similar change occurred in the early ministerial 
life of Philip Doddridge, and also of the two Wesleys, John 
and Charles, and of Robert Hall, and more strikingly still of Dr. 
Chalmers. The change was such in the case of this latter dis- 
tinguished man, as to revolutionize his whole ministry, and to 
inspire him with new life and power in the wide range of his 
subsequent services in the cause of his Saviour and the sal- 
vation of men. The change was indeed so great that it has 
commonly been regarded as his first conversion, the beginning 
of his Christian life; but it seems rather to have been a new 
and more marked development of previously existing religious 
principle. 

The late Dr. Judson, of the Burmah Baptist Mission, after 
he had been years in his field of labor, earnestly engaged in 
his work, and no doubt as a true Christian man, experienced a 
change in his religious feelings and views which, in all its es- 
sential elements, may properly be regarded as a second conver- 
sion, and which gave a new impulse and a new power, as well 
as a greatly increased spirituality, and joy, and hope, to the 
whole of his subsequent life. The late Judge Reeve, of Litch- 
field, furnishes another remarkable example illustrating the 
point now under consideration. For many years after he pro- 
fessed religion he was satisfied to keep up the usual routine of 
religious observances, but with little of the life and enjoyment 
of a clear, indwelling spirit of piety. Then he passed through 
a great and most decided change in his Christian experience 
and character, in which he felt as if old things had indeed 
passed away, and all things had become new to him. From 
that time till the close of his life he enjoyed great nearness to 
God and peace of mind, and his path became like that of the 
sun, shining more and more unto the perfect day. 

The experience of Dr. Strong, my predecessor, has often 
been referred to, and is full of instruction in respect to the mat- 
ter now before us. He was probably a converted, christian 
man before he entered the ministry, and while in college; but 
his spiritual life was very imperfectly developed, and for nearly 



SECOND CONVERSION. 47 

twenty years he showed very little efficiency or zeal in the sa- 
cred office, and very little fruit was gathered from his labors. 
The state of religion was low around him, and he was too 
contented to see it remain so. But it pleased God, by a series 
of trials, and I doubt not, by the special teachings of his spirit, 
to show him his deficiencies, to renew his repentance and faith, 
and to bring him to a more clear, abiding and effective experi- 
ence of divine things. The effisct on his ministry was great 
and visible to all. The word, having entered his heart with 
new light and power, came from his lips with new energy and 
force, and attended as it was, in a remarkable manner, by the 
influences of the Holy Spirit, it worked great results in the 
awakening and conversion of sinners and in the edification of 
Christians, during the whole latter half of his ministry. 

It would be easy to multiply examples like those now referred 
to. They are of frequent occurrence in the history of Chris- 
tian experience. I have often witnessed them in the course of 
my ministry, and I have never been present in a true revival 
of religion, whether at home or elsewhere, but I have seen 
many professing Christians who have passed through the change 
I have described as a second conversion, which has seemed to 
give them a new and deeper experience in divine things, and to 
set them forward with new life and efficiency in the whole of 
their future course. 

But not to pursue this topic further, let me proceed to show, 
as proposed, — 

III. Why a second conversion is necessary to prepare one 
to be truly and eminently useful in the Christian life, or in 
promoting the spiritual good of others. And, 

1. It is necessary because first conversion is often very su- 
perficial. It does indeed change the heart and turn the affec- 
tions toward God and divine things ; but the whole inner man 
is far from being subdued to the obedience of Christ. Much 
land remains yet to be possessed. The Canaanite still dwells 
there, and often wars too successfully to regain his dominion. 
The mind's view of divine things is obscure, and the Chris- 
tian affections are unstable and comparatively unfruitful. TTie 
feet have been turned into the path of life, but the progress is slow, 
irregular and often retrograde. Religion, in the case I am de- 
scribing, though sincere, is very imperfect, is more a form than a 
life, more a custom than an indwelHng force ; and consequently, 
all the duties of the Christian life, especially the more secret, 
5* 



48 SECOND CONVERSION.' 

experimental duties, are performed, so far as performed at all, 
only inadequately and ineffectively, with but little freedom and 
joy of heart. This is a true picture of all that many experi- 
ence in first conversion. And how poor a qualification it is for 
being spiritually useful to others ! How can any one impart 
to others what he does not himself possess ; or how labor to 
win souls to Christ, while so little of the love of Christ finds a 
living place in his own soul ? A superficial conversion must 
■of course be followed by a superficial Christian life. The sub- 
ject of such a conversion will want the desire, the power, the 
earnestness to attempt anything important in the service of 
Christ, and is likely to rest satisfied with a low, defective stand- 
ard of Christian duty and effort. I remark, — 

2. That a second conversion is often necessary to bring the 
soul into a nearer union and a deeper sympathy with Christ. 
This seems to be the special design, as it is always the effect 
•of this form of conversion. It takes the subject from the low, 
earthly religious state in which he was living, and raises him 
to a higher standard of spirituality, and conforms him, more 
entirely, to the spirit and will of his Saviour. This qualifies 
;and disposes him to enter into the designs of Christ, to iden- 
tify his interests with those of his Master, and to be a co- 
worker with him in the extension of his kingdom on earth. 
United to the Redeemer, by a clear, settled faith, a faith which 
enables him to say, on good ground, Christ is mine and I am 
his, he will, it is evident, be constrained, by his love, to move, 
•with new joy and earnestness, to every work whereby he may 
ihonor the name of the Saviour and advance his cause on earth. 
He will find every duty pleasant, every burden light, and every 
cross easy to be borne, for the presence of Christ is with him, 
and the joy he has in serving and honoring his blessed Master, 
will be to him more than a compensation for all the sacrifices 
lie may make or toils endure, for his sake who loved him and 
gave himself to die for him. What was the great secret of 
Paul's ever glowing zeal and earnest labor in the cause of 
Christ and man's salvation ? Unquestionably his deep expe- 
rience in the divine life ; his thorough conversion to Christ, in 
all the affections and powers of the inner man. And such a 
conversion, whether it be a first or a second conversion, is in- 
dispensable to fit one to do much good in the Christian life. 
"What is needed in this case is a vital union with Christ ; a 
oneness of affection, of interest and aim with him ; this is the 



SECOND CONTERSION. 49 

proper fruit and evidence of second conversion ; and where it 
exists, it is the highest and best of all qualifications for effi- 
cient usefulness in his service, and for seeking and promoting 
the spiritual good of others. 

3. This second conversion of which I speak, brings those 
who are the subjects of it to see and feel the miserable condi- 
tion of such as are out of Christ and perishing in sin. First 
conversion, when deep and thorough, always has this effect. 
It wakes up in the bosom a tender compassion for those who 
are estranged from God and under the condemnation of his 
law, and leads them earnestly to desire their salvation. So it 
was with Paul after he had been slain by the law and made 
alive in Christ. So it was with Melancthon, and Brainerd, and 
Henry Martyn, and McCheyne, and Richard Knill, and many 
others whom I might mention as marked examples of thorough 
conversion and of consequent love and compassion for souls. 
They had felt the guilt and misery of sin in themselves ; the 
fearfulness of the soul's condemnation, and of the soul's eternal 
loss. They had felt also the joy of God's salvation in deliv- 
ering them from this state, and making them heirs of eternal 
life. And this experience fitted them ever after, as it always 
does those who are the subjects of it, to view the condition of 
sinners in its true light, as a condition of extreme guilt and 
danger, and to feel towards them in some measure as the 
Saviour felt when he wept over them and poured out his life 
blood for them. Just here it is that many, very many pro- 
fessing Christians are sadly deficient. They have but little 
love for souls ; but little concern for those whom they see 
neglecting Christ and hastening down to death. Though they 
live and move every day in the midst of the dead and the dy- 
ing, among them, perhaps, their own children, and many of 
them nearest relatives and friends, yet their bowels of compas- 
sion are shut, and they seem not in the least to be affected by 
the scenes which made the Saviour weep and lament in deep 
sympathy and love. What is to remove this insensibility and 
wake up in the bosoms of Christians a warmer and more active 
concern for those who are perishing in sin ? Nothing but a 
deeper religious experience ; such as results from a second 
conversion ; inspiring a deeper sense of the evil and danger of 
sin ; waking up to new tenderness the sensibilities of the soul 
and inspiring it with a larger measure of the love of Christ 
and his compassion for lost men. Let the change here inti- 



50 SECOND CONVERSION. 

mated be wrought in the members of our churches generally, 
or of this church in particular, and what a diflPerent state of 
feeling would at once be manifested in respect to the impeni- 
tent and the lost. Parents would be moved with tender con- 
cern for their unconverted children, and friends for their un- 
converted friends, and touched anew with the love of Christ 
and moved by a deep sense of divine things, Christians would 
be conscious of feelings and views in regard to the state and 
prospects of the impenitent around them to which they are 
now entire strangers. And such prayers would be offered for 
their salvation, and such efforts made in their behalf, as never 
were and never will be unavailing in the sight of God. A 
new moral atmosphere ^would at once pervade the community, 
the stagnation of spiritual death and formalism would be 
broken up, Christians would feel anew the powers of the world 
to come, and sinners awakened from the slumbers of moral 
death, would be seen turning their feet into the path of life and 
pressing their way to heaven. 

4. Second conversion qualifies those who are the subjects of 
it, to do good in the most acceptable and successful manner. 
Christians, as the result of their first conversion, are often but 
little fitted to seek the spiritual good of those around them. 
They want that tenderness of spirit, that benevolence and sym- 
pathy which are necessary, not only to dispose them to desire and 
seek the salvation of others, but also to prepare them to do it 
in the most kind and effective manner. A great deal depends 
on this. A parent in a low state of piety, or while his heart 
has more of the spirit of the world than of the spirit of Christ 
in it, is but poorly fitted to speak of religion to his children or 
to make any efforts to draw them to the Saviour. A professor 
of religion, who is backslidden or is living with no sensible en- 
joyment of God's presence and love in his soul, is in no state 
to go to his impenitent neighbor to warn him of his danger and 
persuade him to flee from the wrath to come. And a minister 
who thinks more of himself than of his Master, or who is moved 
to his duties more by constraint than by the love of Christ and 
souls, is in no state of mind to dispense the gospel in the most 
effective manner, or so as to commend himself to every man's 
conscience in the sight of God. What is necessary in all at- 
tempts to recommend religion to others, or effectually to labor 
for their spiritual good, whether on the part of private Chris- 
ians or of ministers, is a warm, living piety within, an habitual 



SECOND CONVERSION. 51 

sense of the worth of the soul, of the love of Christ and of the 
solemn scenes of an eternity at hand. And this is just what is 
secured by second conversion. It begets a new spirit of hu- 
mility, tenderness and love in the soul ; gives tone to the voice 
and look to the eye, imparts an aspect of benevolence and 
kindness to the whole manner and style of address, and makes 
it entirely apparent, when attempting to do good to others, to 
converse with them for example on the subject of personal 
religion, that you are moved to it by real concern for their sal- 
vation. This, beyond anything else, disarms opposition, sub- 
dues prejudice, gives access to the heart and conscience, and is 
well nigh sure to render your efforts successful. I must add — 

5. That when the heart is deeply imbued with the feelings 
implied in second conversion, God's presence may be expected 
to be with you, to guide and crown with success your endeavors 
to do good to others. The state of mind indicated by second 
conversion implies habitual nearness to God, intimate com- 
munion with him in his word and ordinances, fervor and con- 
stancy of prayer, and a ready, practical willingness to be used 
by him in any way he may appoint, to accomplish the purposes 
of his benevolence. And when was it ever known, that a 
Christian, in this state of mind, was left long without some 
manifest tokens of God's presence with him, to assist and bless 
him as an instrument of doing good ? It may not be in his 
own way, nor perhaps in the way he anticipated or desired ; 
but sure as any one is brought into the state of mind just de- 
scribed, a state of nearness to God and of oneness with him in 
feeling, interest and aim, so sure is it that God will find work 
for him to do, will aid him in doing it, and crown his efforts 
with success. Hence it is, that whenever God is about to do 
any special good, by an individual or church, as the reviving of 
his work, he always precedes it by raising up that individual 
or that church to a higher and more conscious state of spirit- 
uality, of greater nearness to himself, and a deeper realization 
of divine objects. This prepares both the individual and the 
church to be used in the doing of the Lord's work, whatever 
it be, and when thus prepared he is sure to employ them in 
building up his kingdom of truth and holiness among men. 

And now, if what has been said is true, how obvious to re- 
mark, in conclusion, that the greatest want of the church at the 
present day is the reconversion of many of its members ; the 
development in them of a higher and more vigorous state of 



52 SECOND CONVERSION. 

religious experience. Doubtless there are many, very many 
in the visible church, who need to be converted for the first 
time, and must be, or never enter into life. And in respect to 
a large class of others, who have been converted in some true 
and saving sense, how painfully evident it is that their standard 
of Christian character and duty is very low ; that as a general 
fact they know but little of the power and enjoyment of a liv- 
ing, self-consecrating piety, and that a great change must be 
wrought in the hearts and lives of Christians generally, before 
the kingdom of Christ can make much progress in the world, 
or the predicted latter day glory of the church dawn upon the 
earth. There is needed a new and more copious baptism of 
the Spirit to be poured out on the church at large, before the 
gospel can fulfill its great mission on earth and spread its light 
and salvation through the world. 

And does not the same want, my brethren, press heavily 
upon us, both individually and as a church ? It would be per- 
tinent to press this home as a matter demanding serious self- 
examination ; but I pass it by, leaving it to each one to inquire 
himself, whether he has ever been truly and spiritually con- 
verted ; and if he has been, whether he has not need to be 
converted again, so as to bring him into a more intimate fellow- 
ship with Christ and a greater fitness to be a co-worker with 
him in building up his kingdom of truth and holiness on earth. 
O, we do need the visitations of the Holy Spirit, not only to 
convert sinners, but to re-convert Christians, to produce in 
them a deeper experience of the truth and power of religion, 
and to raise them to higher and holier attainments in the divine 
life. Let this then be the object of earnest desire and fervent 
prayer to every one who calls himself a Christian, — Lord, 
give me thy Spirit in his quickening and reconverting influence, 
that I may have a deeper and more transforming experience 
of thy truth and grace; let my heart be ruled by thy love, 
my will be subjected to thy will, and my life be conformed to 
the example of my Saviour, that so I may honor thee in the 
world, exert a holy, Christian influence upon those around me, 
and finally rejoice in the heritage of thy chosen for ever in the 
kingdom of glory. 



SERMON Y. 

HOW TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPTj AND ETERNALLY 
PROGRESSIVE. 

Proverbs x : 9. He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely. 

This is a practical maxim, the importance of which can not 
be overestimated. If generally adopted and carried out in 
action, it would change the whole moral aspect and condition 
of the world, producing order, peace and happiness, where now 
reign only disorder, misery and crime. The truth of this re- 
mark will, I trust, fully appear in the progress of this discourse. 
Though the text relates to one particular, the safety of right 
acting, it may properly be extended, so as to take in these four 
leading thoughts — 

To he right is to be strong ; to he right is to he safe ; to he 
right is to he happy ; to he right is to occupy a position under 
the government of God of eternal progress in all that adds dig- 
nity and worth to an immortal nature. 

Before I proceed to illustrate these several points and show 
the evidence on which they rest, it may be well to bestow a 
passing word on the question, — What is it to be right ? A 
brief answer is ; it is to have our feeling, sentiments and con- 
duct conformed to the will of God, the eternal rule of right ; 
or it is to think, feel and act in accordance with the immutable 
standard of truth and right revealed in the word of God. Ob- 
serve now how extensive a thing right is. It takes in both the 
inner and the outer man ; both the duties "vyhich we owe to our- 
selves, and those which we owe to our fellowmen and to God. 
It requires us to put away all insincerity of mind, and all evil 
biases and prejudices ; that we be candid and honest in aU 
our inquiries after truth and duty ; desirous to know our mis- 
takes and correct them ; and that we make it the governing 
aim, the ruling purpose of life, to believe only what is true and 
to practice only what is right. 



54 HOTV TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPT, 

Then, in regard to our fellowmen, if we would be right, we 
must treat them with integrity, justice and benevolence. 
There must be nothing false, oppressive or fraudulent in our 
intercourse and dealings with them, but all fair, honest, just 
and true ; aiming ever to act on the golden rule of doing to 
them just what, in like circumstances, we would have them do 
to us. 

And further, to be right we must especially take into view 
our relations to God and the duties we owe to him as our Crea- 
tor, sovereign Ruler and final Judge. As he is himself the source 
of all good and the sovereign of all worlds, supremely right, 
and just and good, in all he does and in all he requires, so if 
we would be right in any proper sense of the term, we must, 
from the heart, acknowledge him, in his true character, as our 
God and King ; must make his will the rule, and his glory the 
ultimate end and aim of our being ; striving in all things to 
keep a conscience void of oiFense both towards him and our 
fellow men ; seeking his forgiving mercy through Christ, 
wherein we come short of duty, and praying to him daily that 
he would wash us from our sins, conform us to his will and 
make us in all things right, just as he would have us to be. 

If in thus setting forth what it is to be right, I seem to any of 
you to hold up a standard too high for human attainment, I ad- 
mit it is high ; but not higher than the word of God requires, nor 
higher than we should ever keep before us and aspire to, if we 
would walk surely through this world and attain the true end 
of our being. And now I am prepared to show that just so 
far as any one sets this rule of duty before him, and truly aims 
to conform to it, he will be strong, safe and happy, and will occupy 
a position under the moral government of God in which he is 
sure to make eternal progress in all that adds dignity and worth 
to an immortal being. 

1 . I say then, first, that to be right is to be strong. The 
God who made us, made us to be right, and all the various fac- 
ulties he has given us, attain their most perfect development, 
activity and strength, only when they are nurtured and trained, 
and are exercised in accordance with the laws of right. This, 
we all know, is true of the body. It never attains its healthiest 
growth and its most perfect expansion and vigor, but in obedi- 
ence to the physical laws impressed upon it by the Creator. 
Let it be fed with bad food, or breathe bad air, or be com- 
pressed by unnatural outward forces, and disease, weakness and 



AND PROGRESSIVE. 55 

deformity are the sure consequence, to be followed by prema- 
ture decay and death. In like manner, let the mind be sub- 
jected to the influence of wrong, wrong in disposition, in pur- 
pose, in habit and conduct, and the sure effect is to weaken and 
destroy the harmony of its powers, to disorder its actings, and 
to beget inconstancy, hesitation and feebleness in all that is 
adapted to impart strength and efficiency to its operations. 

On the other hand, a mind trained under the influence of 
right, and is conscious of being right, feels itself to be in 
its own proper element. It breathes freely, if I may so say. 
It is in its true, normal state, and all its faculties are in har- 
mony, and ready for action. There is no conflict between con- 
science and reason ; no strife between a conviction of duty and 
the decisions of the will. There is harmony within, and har- 
mony here is strength. The man who is on the side of right, 
who yields himself to its control, and is conscious of seeking 
right ends by right means, stands on solid ground. He is hot 
embarrassed by remorse, or fear, or hesitation and misgiving. 
The path in which he walks is plain, straight and open, and as 
he goes forward in it, he becomes stronger and stronger. By 
unmistakable signs, within and without, he is sure that he is on 
the king's highway, and he travels on with a firm, unfaultering 
step. He has all good beings and all good influences on his 
side. All the great forces on earth and in heaven, take one 
grand direction, and favor the right. To act, as one says, -so as 
to secure the approval of a good conscience is, in effect, to har- 
ness the careering providences of God to one's chariot. If God 
be for us, who can be against us ? No combination of evil, no 
influx of untoward events can ever injure or make him afraid 
who is shielded in the pavilion of God's promises, and provi- 
dences, — who is strong in the Lord and in the power of his 
might. . 

The scriptures abound in noble examples of being strong, 
as the result of being right. Abraham was right, and he was 
strong, when, in obedience to the command of God, he went 
out from his country and his kindred to sojourn in a strange 
land. Moses was right and he was strong, when, with the- 
honors and treasures of Egypt before him, he put them 
away, and chose rather to suffer afiliction with the people of 
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, — having 
respect unto the recompense of reward. Daniel and his three 
friends in Babylon were right, and they were strong, when, 
6 



56 HOAY TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPY, 

they set at naught the king's edict that would bow them to an 
act of idolatry, and chose to be thrown into the lions' den and 
the fiery furnace, rather than be guilty of offending God by 
violating conscience. John, the forerunner of Christ, was 
right, and he was strong, when he dared to rebuke thd wicked- 
ness of Herod, though, for it, he was cast into prison, and put 
to death. The Apostles of our Lord were right, and they were 
strong, when, in the face of the Jewish Sanhedrim, thirsting 
for their blood, and seeking to restrain them from duty, they 
were bold to say — Whether it is right in the sight of God to 
obey man rather than God, judge ye. The history of the 
church, in every age, abounds in examples, teaching the same 
lessons with those just referred to. The martyrs were right, 
and they were strong, when chains and dungeons could not crush 
out the constancy of their spirits, nor drive them from holding 
fast the principles of truth and righteousness contained in the 
gospel. Luther Avas right, and he was strong, when in danger 
of death, he said that he would keep his appointment to be at 
the Diet of Worms, though he should meet there as many 
devils as there were tiles on the roofs of the houses. And 
how morally sublime was his utterance, when, at the close of 
his trial, on being urged to retract his sentiments in the pres- 
ence of the most powerful monarch in Europe, and of the 
mighty princes and legates of Rome, he firmly said, — I can 
not retract, inasmuch as it is neither safe nor right to violate 
my conscience. Here I stand, I can not do otherwise ; God 
be my help. Amen. I must cite one other example ; it is 
that of John Bunyan, — he was right, and he was therefore 
strong, when in Bedford jail, where he suffered twelve years for 
righteousness sake, he said, that sooner than make a shambles 
of his conscience and stop preaching the gospel at the com- 
mand of king or prelate, he would lie in prison, if God spared 
his frail life so long, till the moss should grow on his eyebrows. 
Now the secret of the strength manifested in all these exam- 
ples was the consciousness of right, and a fixed purpose to ad- 
here to it, confirmed by the presence and grace of God. This 
is a source of strength which can be found no where else. It 
brings the whole man into harmony with himself, reason, con- 
science, will, — and all these into harmony with God, and the 
great forces of his moral government and providence. It 
plants itself on the rock of ages. It lays hold upon the arm 



AND PROGRESSIVE. 57 

of Jehovah, and acting in correspondence with his will, it draws 
inspiration from above and rests on resources that can never 
fail. Strength in being right is real strength ; it is the strength 
of angels and of God. I proceed to show, — 

2. That to be right is to be safe. This must be true, since 
God and his government are on the side of right, and all his per- 
fections are pledged for the safety and ultimate well being of 
them that obey his laws. The man who is right, is in the line 
of conduct which God has marked out for him, and while he 
pursues it, he is? sure of the approbation and favor of the great 
Being who made and governs the world, and it can not be 
otherwise than well with him. He walks in the light. The 
way is plain and open before him. He is apprehensive of no 
dangers. He is afraid of no detection ; and whatever ditficul- 
ties and trials he may meet with in pursuing the path of right, 
he has the fullest assurance of ultimate triumph, and tha,t all 
will come out well in the end. 

It is true, even in regard to our temporal interests, that 
to be right is to be safe. We sometimes, indeed, see a man 
apparently prosperous and happy in a course of wrong do- 
ing. He is successful in his plans. He heaps up 
wealth and makes a great show in the world. But to suppose 
him safe is a great mistake. He is all the while in dan- 
ger. He treads on hollow ground and is constantly exposed 
to fall into the greatest perplexity and distress. The man who 
lies and cheats in his business ; who gets riches by fraud and 
swindling, and lives on dishonest gains, is never safe, and he is 
never easy. He suspects every body, and is suspected by every 
body. He is obliged to be continually on his guard, and to use 
every art of deception and cunning to evade law and justice. 
He walks in the dark, along a crooked path, full of snares and 
pits, and is sure in the end to stumble and fall. No one, in- 
deed, who turns aside from the path of virtue and uprightness, 
ever knows into what inextricable difficulties he may be 
plunged, or what sorrow and suffering he may bring upon him- 
self, his family, and his friends. 

On the contrary, the path of rightness is the path of safety. 
It may not always be the shortest way to temporal prosperity 
and worldly gain ; but it is always, in the long run, the surest. 
The man who walks in it, whatever be his profession or calling 
in life, is always the most free from perplexity and fear. He 
is sure of the approbation of his own mind, and also of the con- 



58 HOW TO BE STRONG, -SAFE, HAPPY, 

fidence and respect of all the wise and good who know him. 
Universal experience proves the truth of the maxim, that hon- 
esty is the best policy. It may sometimes be slow in working 
out its results, and for this reason many have not patience to 
try it. But it is in the end the surest of success, and always 
brings with it an approving conscience, the blessing of God, 
and safety against the countless evils which never fail to attend 
the opposite course. 

But, if to be right is to be safe in regard to temporal inter- 
ests, much more is it so in regard to our spiritual and eternal 
interests. Here there is no safety, but in being right ; right 
with our conscience, with our fellow men, and with God. If 
anything is plain from the order of nature, from the course of 
providence, and from divine revelation, it is that God is the 
moral governor of the world; that he approves the right and 
condemns the wrong, and will finally reward the one and pun- 
ish the other. This issue is certain ; and how soon it will 
come, in respect to any individual, no one knows. Things are 
now in progress. Enough is seen to make it certain that God 
is on the side of right and against wrong, and sooner or later 
he will cause this to appear in the presence of all intelligent 
beings by the discriminations he will make between the righteous 
and the wicked; rewarding the one with his everlasting favor 
and consigning the other to everlasting wo. Where now is 
safety under the government of such a God, but in being right ; 
conformed to the principles of his law and gospel and devoted 
to his service and glory ? Is it possible for an intelligent, ac- 
countable being to be safe while in estrangement from God, 
averse to his will and service, and under the control of sin and 
selfishness ? While in this state, eternal truth has said, the 
wrath of God abideth on him, and be his outward condition 
what it may, he is liable at any instant, to be cut off in his sins 
and fall into everlasting misery. On the other hand, he who 
is right ; right with God, in that he owns him as his sovereign, 
and seeks in all things to do his will and glorify his name,, has 
nothing to fear, but every thing to hope from the government of 
such a Being; he is sure that all his interests are safe in his 
hands, and that whether in time or in eternity, in this world or 
the next, it can not be otherwise than well with them that fear 
God and keep his commandments. 

3. To be right, is to be happy. This might be inferred with 
entire certainty from the design of the Creator in making us 



AND PROGRESSIVE. 59 

free moral agents ; from the faculties he has given us, and the 
laws he has impressed on our being and ordained for our obe- 
dience ; and also from the various provisions of his providence 
and grace, as well as from the abundant teachings and prom- 
ises of his word. How complete is the evidence from these 
sources, that to be right, is to be happy ? Indeed, the happi- 
ness of God consists in his being right. He is infinitelj happy 
because he is infinitely righteous, true, just and good. The 
happiness of angelic beings springs from the same source. 
They are supremely blessed or happy just because they are 
perfectly conformed to the great law of right, and delight in 
doing the will and fulfilling the commands of Him who is God 
over all and blessed forever. And all who dwell on earth are 
happy in proportion as they possess the temper and acquire 
the rightness of character which are possessed by angels and 
the redeemed in heaven. He who is right, is in harmony with 
himself, in harmony with God, and in harmony with all good 
beings in the universe, and with the wise and benevolent laws 
of the divine moral kingdom. He has peace of conscience that 
sings sweet music in the ear of the inner man, morning, noon 
and night, and sheds sunshine and brightness over his whole 
being. He has peace with God. He walks in the light of his 
countenance, and rejoices in the hope of his glory. He looks 
to him as his Father, his everlasting friend and portion. To 
him he comes in every time of need, assured that he careth for 
him, and that all things, however dark and trying for the pres- 
ent, shall work together for his good. He has hope, hope full 
of immortality to cheer and animate him in all the journey of 
life. Conscious of being right with God, he feels sure that the 
everlasting arms are around him, and exults in the hope based 
on the unchanging promise of God, of having him for his 
Father, and of being forever under his guardian care and love. 
From all these sources, and many more which I have not time 
to mention, he who is right with God and the laws of his king- 
dom, enjoys a happiness which is pure, satisfying and ever 
enduring. It never cloys, never satiates, can never be carried 
to excess. It is always new, always fresh. It will go with us 
'to all places, and attend us through every scene of life. jN'oth- 
ing can take it from us. It is a part of ourselves ; it springs 
from a deep, abiding consciousness of being right with God ; 
of having his friendship and favor on our side ; and, sustained 
by this consciousness, no worldly changes or trials can greatly 
6* 



60 HOW TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPY, 

agitate or move us ; our souls will be at rest, and we shall be 
in a situation like that of a person who is 'lifted to the upper 
regions of the atmosphere, w^ho hears the thunders roll, and 
sees the lightnings flash and the clouds spread and lower below 
him, while he enjoys serenity and sunshine, and all is calm and 
clear around and above him.' 

4. To be right is to be in a position of eternal progress in 
all that adds dignity and blessedness to an immortal nature. 
Man is destined to an eternal existence. His brief life here 
is preparatory to a life that shall never end. This being so, it 
is a question of the deepest importance, how can that existence, 
that endless life that awaits us beyond the grave, be made an 
eternal blessing and not an eternal curse to us? In other words, 
what have we to do, if any thing, in this state of probation, to 
secure the highest good of our souls; how rise to the highest 
dignity and happiness which our immortal natures are made 
capable of attaining? But one answer can be given to this 
question. It is by being right ; right vriih God, right with our 
own moral and immortal nature, and right with the principles 
of that eternal government which the Creator has ordained, and 
under which we are to live for ever and ever. At variance 
with that government, in the bondage of sin, and estranged in 
affection and character from the great Creator and Ruler of the 
world, we must of necessity be miserable, degraded and cor- 
rupted in our moral nature, shut out from the presence of the 
holy Lord God, and given over to the terrible consequences of 
sin and rebellion against him. But if right with God, con- 
formed to him in feeling, character, and life, we occupy a posi- 
tion'in which we may rest assured of eternal advancement in 
knowledge, holiness, and happiness; in all that can assimilate 
us to God and make us partakers of his blessedness. This is 
just as certain as it is that God favors the right, and administers 
his government on principles of eternal rectitude, goodness, and 
truth. To be right is to be strong, safe, and happy here, and to 
be right is to be strong, safe, and happy during eternal ages, 
and at some time or another to rise to honors, powers, and felic- 
ities, which, as declared by our Saviour, shall make us equal 
unto the angels. Nothing can prevent this, nothing obstruct or 
hinder it. The man who is right, in the true and proper sense 
of that term, has God on his side, and the laws of the universe 
on his side, and all good beings on his side ; and into whatever 
part of the universe he may remove, God is there, surrounding 



AND PROGRESSIVE. 61 

him with his everlasting favor, and he can not be otherwise than 
safe and happy. The truth of all that I have now said depends 
on the one great fact that God is a being of infinite righteous- 
ness, and in all his perfections and ways is eternally on the side 
of right. This being so, it results of necessity that to be right 
is for ever to have him as our friend and portion; for ever to 
be under his guardianship and care, and it must be well with us. 
I am often troubled with doubts and difficulties on many points 
of religious truth and doctrine; but in respect to the certainty 
of what I have just said, I have never hesitated or wavered for 
a moment in my conviction, or in my faith. If I am right with 
God I am safe and happy for eternity. 

I have left myself too little time to draw out the practical 
lessons of our subject, but I can not forbear to suggest two or 
three. 

1. God exercises a moral government over this world. He 
has made us free moral agents. He has placed us under wise 
and benevolent laws, sanctioned by rewards and punishments, 
which are sure to follow in the line of right or wrong doing. 
His own nature and perfections, the forces of creation, the ar- 
rangements of providence, and the teachings of revelation, are 
all in favor of virtue and right, and against vice and wrono-. 
True, results are not complete in this life. The present is a 
state of probation. Things are now in progress; the full con- 
sequences of human conduct lie in the future. Virtue often 
goes unrewarded here, and vice unpunished. But we see 
enough of the tendencies of both to convince us that God is in 
favor of the one and is against the other, and that a time is 
coming when righteous retributions will be awarded to each; 
when God will show to all intelligent beings, by his actual treat- 
ment of the righteous and the wicked, that he approves of the 
one and abhors the other ; that the conduct of the one tends to 
life and happiness, and of the Other to misery and death eternal. 
"What we see here is sufficient to convince us that God reigns 
over this world as a righteous moral governor; and thouo-h for 
wise reasons, he stays, for a time, to dispense rewards and pun- 
ishments in exact accordance with the deserts of men, yet 
enough is seen in his conduct and in his word to show that he 
is the friend of right and the enemy of wrong; that he is car- 
rying on a moral government here which is to be completed 
hereafter; when every present irregularity will be set. right; 
virtue receive its full reward and vice its full punishment. I 
have not time here to show, in detail, the evidence of this great 



62 HOW TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPY, 

truth. But read it in nature, read it in providence, read it in 
your own conscience, read in what you observe of the opposite 
tendency and effects of right and wrong doing in this life, and 
be prepared to witness their full results demonstrated by the 
righteous decisions of a judgment to come. 

2. We may learn from our subject what is true policy. It is 
always and in all circumstances to do what is right. There is 
no safe policy but this. Cunning, compromise, artifice, expedi- 
ency and fraud may seem to work well for a time, and for this 
reason multitudes resort to them as safer and better than right 
and truth. But mischief and evil are sure to come in the issue. 
The effect always is to corrupt moral principle, to weaken con- 
science, to darken the mind, and to arm providence and the 
course of nature and the word of God against those who thus 
sacrifice right for expediency, and principle for policy. It may 
be admitted that in mere secular matters — matters of bargain 
and sale, of pecuniary loss and gain — it is proper to call in rules 
of expediency, to inquire what is policy, to calculate results, 
and act accordingly. But this is never allowable in questions 
of right and wrong, of truth and duty. Here but one course is 
to be pursued, but one policy to be adopted, and that is to do 
right. The whole history of the world is a practical demonstra- 
tion of the correctness of this principle. Give up right and in- 
troduce policy in its stead into any civil government, or court 
of law, or Christian church, or benevolent society, and the re- 
sult is sure to come, sooner or later, in the form of disorder, dis- 
trust, division, weakness, decay and final ruin. It is not always 
easy to see this. Sometimes right looks like weakness, and to 
adhere to and pursue it seems like running into danger and in- 
curring certain loss and ruin. And sometimes trimming, cau- 
tion, untruth, compromise, management and recreancy of prin- 
ciple, seem to be the very turnpike, the highway to prosperity 
and success. On this account many, deceived by appearances, 
are ready to shun the right and pursue the wrong — justifying 
themselves in doing so on the ground of policy. But it is a ter- 
rible mistake to act thus. The truth may be dug out of every 
stranded wreck of church and state which strews the shores of 
time, that right is the only way to success, the only true policy, 
the only real strength. It is the running-title of every page of 
history, and the spirit of every text of Scripture, that to do right 
is the only wise or safe policy, whether viewed in respect to an 
individual, a church, or state. 



AND PROGRESSIVE. 63 

As illustrating the truth of what I here say, I may appeal 
to the present state of our country — [1863.] As a nation, 
we are this moment suffering the terrible consequences of 
abandoning principle for expediency, of transgressing right 
and duty for policy. An element of evil was admitted into 
our constitution — the element of slavery. It was thought to 
be expedient, to be policy to do so ; but it has ever since been 
a dry rot in our system of government, a constantly weakening, 
disturbing force in the whole administration of our public affairs ; 
continually demanding, to keep it quiet, fresh compromises with 
evil and concessions to wrong, till at length it has brought upon 
us the terrible war which is now raging in our country. All 
our present troubles may be traced to the practice, too long and 
too widely indulged by our government, of substituting policy for 
right, expediency for duty, compromises with evil in the place of 
obedience to God; and now we are reaping the consequences 
of this bad course; and if ever these consequences shall be ar- 
rested and our country restored to peace and permanent pros- 
perity, it will be only by a return to right; by seeking to estab- 
lish and administer our government on the principles of eternal 
rectitude, in accordance with the laws of the great Ruler of this 
and of all worlds. 

3. No change in a man's life is so great as when he is truly 
converted from sin to holiness, and comes under the law of 
right as his ruling principle of action. It changes his whole 
state and prospects for eternity. It brings him from darkness 
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God ; it places him 
on a new platform of living and acting; it imparts to him new 
strength, and security, and happiness, and sets him in a way in 
which all good beings and all moral forces are on his side, and 
in which he is sure to attain the highest, the purest, and most 
satisfying good of which he is capable. This is the nature and 
these the effects of true spiritual conversion — the greatest and 
happiest change that a moral being ever does or can experience. 
Hence it is, that it awakens so great joy in heaven, and angels 
are said to rejoice over every sinnex that repenteth, or turns 
from wrong to right, from sin to holiness. It is indeed a great 
and glorious change, when an intelligent, immortal being, is de- 
livered from the bondage of evil and enters into the freedom, 
enlargement and joyousness of right ; when from being an alien 
and an outcast, he enters into the family of God, is received and 
treated as a child, and is introduced into a state of eternal pro- 



64 HOW TO BE STRONG, SAFE, HAPPY, ETC 

gress in knowledge, holiness and blessedness. This is true con- 
version ; and it is a change, we are plainly taught in the Scrip- 
tures, which every son and daughter of Adam, by nature alien- 
ated from God and in bondage to sin, must experience, or never 
enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

And here I may notice in passing, the grand design of our 
Saviour's mediation. It is to open a way for the recovery of 
our race from the power and curse of sin ; to restore them to 
the image and favor of God, and to establish over them the 
eternal reign of truth, of right and holiness, thus preparing them 
for, and raising them to the enjoyment of everlasting happiness. 
This, I repeat, is the great, ultimate design of all our Saviour 
did, taught and suffered in behalf of fallen, ruined man. It is 
first to make man right and then happy, holy and then blessed 
for ever, and this imparts a grandeur and glory to his work of 
mediation, which make it the wonder of angels and the joy of 
all the redeemed in heaven. 

4. And now in view of this whole subject, how urgent are 
the reasons for seeking to be right above all things else. You 
have heard how this is adapted to make you strong; strong in 
the Lord and in the free harmonious exercise of all your pow- 
ers ; to make you safe, safe under the protection of God and 
amidst all the temptations and trials of this your state of pro- 
bation ; happy too, happy in the peace and approval of your 
own mind, in the friendship of God and the assured hope of 
his eternal favor and presence in heaven ; and finally, setting 
you in a position in which you may look forward during eternal 
ages, and feel sure that you are for ever to be advancing into a 
nearer and still nearer resemblance to God and the angels in 
light. Let us then, one and all, earnestly seek to be right; 
right with ourselves, right with our fellow-men, right with God 
and the eternal laws and principles of his government. 
Nothing on earth is worth naming in comparison with this. If 
we have this, we can want nothing that is truly desirable. If 
we want this, we can have nothing that is truly valuable, or that 
can do us any substantial good. 

Let the young seek this, seek to be right in all things ; it 
will be your best safeguard and richest treasure, while pass- 
ing through this world, and your brightest crown in the 
world of glory. Let the middle-aged, men of business and en- 
terprise, seek this ; it will be more, to you, infinitely more than 
all the honors and treasures of earth. Let the aged seek this 



LIFE ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 65 

as their supreme good in the decline of life; it will be your 
sweetest solace and your most cheering hope as you approach 
your end and cast an eye to the boundless scenes of the eter- 
nity before you. In a word, let all seek this, for we all live 
under the government of a God infinitely holy, and right, and 
true; and he can never regard us with favor or admit us to 
dwell in his presence, only as he sees us to be right, right with 
him, right in spirit and aim, and in the great governing princi- 
ple of our lives. Failing of this, we fail of the great end of 
our being, and must of necessity sink down with the miserable 
and the lost in the world of despair. 



SERMON YI. 



LIFE ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

Genesis ii. 7. And tlie Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living 
soul. 

There are two ways in which we are accustomed to estimate 
the relative importance of events — -one by considering what they 
are in themselves ; and the other by considering what they are 
in their consequences. Viewed in either of these aspects, the 
event referred to in the text is by far the most important that 
ever occurred in our world. The creation of the heavens and 
the earth, with all their various appendages, is not to be com- 
pared with it. In the one case only matter was created and 
arranged under fixed laws; in the other mind was created, in- 
telligent, immortal mind, made in the image of God, in dignity 
a little lower than the angels, commencing its flight for eternity. 
And then the consequences of that event, how surpassing all 
finite comprehension ! From that moment commenced the his- 



66 LIFE — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

tory of the human race; from that moment began to flow the 
great stream of human hfe, which, now for six thousand years, 
has been deepening and surging onward, pouring itself into the 
ocean of eternity. That living soul, into which God first 
breathed the breath of life, is still alive; and so are all the 
countless myriads of souls which in successive generations, he 
has brought into being; all are still alive and will live for ever. 
On that mighty stream of human life, which, for sixty centuries, 
has been rolling its current of living souls into the unseen 
world, we ourselves are embarked, and with the thousand or 
more millions of human beings now supposed to be on earth, 
are going forward to that undiscovered country from whose 
bourne no traveler returns. As we pass swiftly down the stream, 
we just catch a glimpse of the various objects on the shore, and 
j)luck a few flowers as they hang over our way; but hurried on, 
sooner than we are aware the roar of the ocean is in our ear, 
and we are off upon the dark, mysterious deep. What a being 
then is man! With what solemn awe should we contemplate 
the vital principle within, which makes him a living soul, bear- 
ing upon it the image of God and the impress of immortality ! 
And how should this view of our nature and destiny make us, 
each one, 

" Walk thoughtful on the silent solemn shore 
Of that vast ocean we must sail so soon." 

The greatest question, my friends, that can possibly engage our 
attention, is, what is life; what is its nature and intent in re 
spect to us individually; how is it to be developed in and by 
ourselves ; what character is it assuming, and whither is it tending 
in relation to a future world? Some of these inquiries we are 
not able to answer; they lie beyond the present limits of human 
knowledge; others of them, aided by the light of God's truth, 
we can investigate and decide with a good degree of certainty; 
and it is to a consideration of these, as having a direct bearing 
on our duty and destiny, that I invite your attention in the pres- 
ent discourse. 

What then is life, that mysterious principle which was en- 
kindled within us by the Creator when we began to be, and 
which makes us living souls? This question, viewed in its 
physiological aspect, I shall not attempt to answer, as I find the 
ablest writers on the subject are entirely undecided in respect to 
it, or rather they are decided that we can not know what life is 



LIFE — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 67 

in itself, or in its essence. We know some of the conditions on 
which it depends; some of the laws which govern it, and the 
phenomena which it exhibits ; but what the vital principle, what 
life is, we seem not to have the means of knowing. There are 
various kinds of life which belonor to different orders of beins: 
and which are characterized by distinct qualities. There is 
vegetable life, and a portion of this belongs to the human being 
in common with plants and trees. There is animal life, and this 
we have in common with birds and beasts that live and move 
around us. And there is intellectual or spiritual life, and this 
we are wont to regard as belonging exclusively to the soul, and 
which makes us, in the sense of our text, living, immortal souls. 
It is of life in this last sense that I am now to speak; not of 
life as simple animal existence, nor of life as a mere period of 
continuance on earth; but of life in the soul, viewed as the 
source of consciousness, thought, desires, purposes and acts, all 
tending to develope and form character, and fit the subject for 
blessedness or wo in the future world. In this view we can 
know what life is, what are the means of its development, and 
how it may be so nurtured and trained on earth that it shall 
conduct us to everlasting life in heaven. 

I remark, then — 

1. Life is interminable; it has no end. The principle on 
which it depends, whatever it be, is beyond the reach of man 
or angel, or any other being, but God who made us living souls. 
The life of the body can be destroyed, for it depends on a ma- 
terial organization; and this may be so deranged and disturbed 
in its functions, that the life which depends upon it shall cease 
to be. But the life of the soul is independent of matter. It is 
not the result of any material mechanism, or of any nice adjust- 
ment of particles of matter, as of nerves and other finer por- 
tions of the body. It has its seat in the inner spirit j in that 
thinking, intelligent, conscious principle, which we call the soul, 
and which the Bible assures us, as does sound philosophy, sur- 
vives the dissolution of the body and is to live for ever. You 
can take down the earthly tabernacle in which this living, in- 
telligent soul resides; you can inflict a mortal injury on the 
brain, or pierce the heart with a bodkin, and let out the vital 
stream that courses through your veins, and lay your material 
part lifeless on the ground, soon to decay and turn to dust. But 
there is a life within which no hand of violence can touch, which 
no change of mode or place of existence can affect; which sur- 
7 



68 LIFE ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

vives the taking down of the material frame-work, in which it 
has a temporary abode, and which is to continue when all 
earthly things have passed away. This is a fact of the deepest 
and most solemn interest. We shall never cease to he. We 
have commenced a life which is to run on parallel with the be- 
ing of God himself; and all the endless ages that are to roll 
over us in eternity we are to pass under the eye and govern- 
ment of him who gave us life — the great Ruler and Judge of 
the world. The vital spark is kindled; it must burn on for 
ever. Have you ever asked, dear hearer, what and where you 
shall be ten thousand ages hence? 

2. Life is disciplinary. By which I mean that in the present 
world we are subjected to various influences, adapted and de- 
signed to exercise the vital principle within us; to elicit and 
draw forth its powers, and thus form and fix its character for a 
future state of being. 

It seems mysterious that living souls like ours should be 
placed in circumstances such as surround us during the time of 
our continuance on earth. We are here ushered into being in 
a state of great weakness and exposure ; our bodies are frail 
and mortal, subject to disease and suffering; after a brief period 
they grow old, decay and fall into ruins; and during the whole 
time of our residence in the world we are passing through 
scenes of temptation and trial, of disappointment, change and 
sorrow. Why we are here, subjected to all these various and 
conflicting influences, we can not tell. Life passed in these cir- 
cumstances is plainly exposed to many and great temptations, 
and, as facts prove, it is so passed, in innumerable instances, as 
to become a fearful curse to its possessor. But amid all the 
darkness that surrounds our present state of being, one thing is 
plain ; the life which we now live is, at every period of our be- 
ing, subjected to a succession of influences, which are designed 
for its discipline and training. All the ills we endure and the 
blessings we enjoy ; the sicknesses, disappointments, sorrows, that 
come upon us, together with the various blessings and privileges 
of our condition — -all are to be regarded as disciplinary. They 
are the means appointed by providence to wake up and call into 
action the living principle within us; to make us, as it were, 
conscious of life and ever solicitous to be found in an attitude to 
be rightly affected by all the various influences that act upon us. 

Now, this view of life as disciplinary, is of the greatest prac- 
tical importance. It changes the whole aspect and bearing of 



LIFE ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 69 

things around us. It sheds light upon a thousand facts and oc- 
currences which would otherwise be entirely mysterious. It 
gives a new and significant view of the dealings of providence 
with us in this world, and attaches a meaning and an importance 
to the events of every day, which they would not otherwise 
possess. You look abroad upon the works of the Creator ; you 
survey the wondrous mechanism of your own frame; you hold 
intercourse with your fellow-men — you engage with them in the 
various pursuits of business or pleasure ; you are visited with 
afflictions and trials, or you are favored with long-continued, un- 
interrupted prosperity. Now all these things exert an influence 
over you; they act on your life, call it into exercise, awaken 
thought, feeling, purpose, and are thus disciplining you, forming 
yoar character, and training you up for another state of being; 
and whether that state is to be happy or miserable, is to be in 
the presence of God in heaven, or far away from his glory in 
the world of despair, depends on the manner in which you im- 
prove the disciplinary training to which you are subjected in 
the present state of being. Hence, I remark — 

3. Life is 'probationary. By this is meant, we are now living 
and acting with reference to a future state of retribution. We 
are not only subjected to discipline and training in this world, 
but results are to follow in the world to come. The life that 
now is, is preparatory to a life in the state beyond the grave ; 
and the life we are to live hereafter is to receive its character 
and destiny from the life we are now living on the earth. This 
is the uniform teaching of the Scriptures, and it accords with 
all we know of the nature and tendencies of the living princi- 
ple within us. That principle is subjected to the great law of 
habit. In the process of its training here below, it soon acquires 
a character ; that character ere long becomes fixed, inwoven, as 
it were, into the very being and texture of the soul, and accord- 
ing as the character thus acquired is virtuous or vicious, holy 
or sinful, such will be the life of this subject in the future state, 
and during eternity. But aside from this law of habit, this 
tendency of life to put on a fixed, permanent character, thus de- 
ciding its condition hereafter, the Bible plainly teaches the great 
fact of a righteous retribution as connected with the deeds of 
the present life. Whatsoever man soweth that shall he also 
reap is a principle of the divine moral government which we 
daily see illustrated in the affairs of this world; and eternal 
truth assures us that it extends, in all its force, to the world 



70 LIFE — ^ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

which is to come, and is there to be consummated. The life 
which Paul lived, by faith in the Son of God while on earth, 
was preparatory to the life he now lives in the state of glory. 
And the life which Herod and Judas lived, as the enemies of 
Christ, was also preparatory to the life they now live in the 
world of punishment. As there is no cessation of life, no break 
in our existence in passing out of this world, so neither is there 
to be any cessation, or break, in the retributive consequences, 
which God has ordained shall follow the life which we live in 
this state of probation ; but we shall feel them, whether of joy 
or sorrow, during eternal ages. This makes it a serious matter 
to live in this world; this attaches an amazing importance to 
all we think and do in this state of our probation and to all the 
events that are passing around us. Every word and every act 
is a seed for eternity, and daily, as our time on earth is hasten- 
ing to its close, we are laying up treasures of immortal joy in 
heaven, or preparing for ourselves a cup of wo in the world of 
despair. 

I may add, in this connection, that life passed by us in this 
state of discipline and probation, acquires of necessity a fixed 
and permanent character. Neutrality is here impossible. As 
no one can destroy the vital principle which the Creator has 
implanted in his bosom, so no one can stop its feeling, thinking, 
acting. Every day and every where the living soul within you 
meets with objects and events, in view of which it must feel 
and think, must purpose and act, and this is to form its character 
and fix its condition in the future world. True it is, and it is a 
most solemn truth, that in forming his character and deciding 
his future condition, man is free and voluntary. There is no 
compulsory power, making him a machine, or turning his life 
away from God and heaven without his choice. Still, while 
the vital principle dwells within, or rather while it continues to 
be, it must act, must have feelings, desires, purposes and aims, 
and must in this way acquire a character, aijd a fitness for one 
or the other of the only two places in eternity ordained as the 
final abode of living souls. 

4. It might perhaps seem common-place and trite to say that 
life, viewed as a period of continuance on earth, is encompassed 
with innumerable ills, and is exceedingly unsatisfying, as well 
as very short and uncertain. Yet these are facts which lose 
none of their importance by their triteness, and they demand to 
be seriously considered by us, if we would form a just estimate 



LIFE ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 71 

of life, and train it, in a right manner, for a future state of be- 
ing, Why is it, that life, in the present state, is so unsatisfying, 
so subjected to changes, disappointments and trials? One great 
reason is to make us realize that this is not our home, not the 
place of our rest, but of our discipline and training, the place 
of our tarrying for a night as strangers, and then pass on to our 
future abode. If all things were pleasant to us in this world; 
if no crosses, disappointments, or trials existed to disturb our 
peace or cloud the sunshine of our days, we should surely for- 
get the end for which the Creator made us; should be contented 
to live here always and make no preparation for a future state 
of being. To prevent this, and make us properly mindful of 
the nature and design of our existence in this world, afflictions 
are sent and trials of various kinds, to detach our affections and 
hopes from the things of earth and time and make us wise to 
live so as to attain to that higher and nobler life in reserve for 
us hereafter. The present state of being is unsatisfying ; it is 
burdened with innumerable anxieties and cares, is often embit- 
tered with griefs and woes, and frequently amid this checkered 
and wearisome scene, you are ready to cry out, who will show 
us any good? where shall rest be found, rest for the weary soul? 
Now all this has a voice, a voice that speaks to the deep feelings 
of the inner man ; and its meaning is, this life is not all of your 
existence; it is but the beginning, just the dawn of your being; 
there lies before you a higher, a purer and a happier life, even 
life eternal in the presence of God, where is fulness of joy and 
pleasures for ever more; and your great concern, during this 
vain, unsatisfying life on earth, is to prepare for the immortal 
life which was purchased for you by Christ, and is set before you 
in the gospel. 

The same lesson is taught you by the shortness and uncer- 
tainty of your present earthly existence. The voice of Provi- 
dence and the voice of God in his word is continually pressing 
on your attention the brevity of your present state of being, 
and the transient, evanescent nature of all earthly things. The 
aspect of society changes around you ; friends and acquaintances 
drop at your side and are seen no more, and you know not how 
soon you may be called to follow them ; and the design of all is, 
to teach you so to live, that dying shall be your introduction to 
an everlasting life in heaven. The same thing is taught you in 
the word of God, in a great variety of .methods, and under the 
most affecting similitudes. Your present life, viewed as a period 
, 7* 



72 LIFE — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

of existence, is likened to a flower which has scarcely expanded 
its leaves, before it is withered. It is likened to grass, verdant 
in the morning, but cut down before the evening and consumed 
away. It is likened to a shadow, to a vapor, to a dream which 
continues for a moment and then is gone. It is likened to an 
impetuous stream, as it rolls its waves to the ocean and is there 
lost; to the swiftness of the shuttle as it flies from the hand of 
the weaver; and to the flight of an eagle, when it cleaves the 
air and descends to seize its prey. So does the Bible, so doey 
the providence of God speak of the duration of human life, and 
the great design of all is to remind you of that higher life that 
is in you, and to quicken you in the great work of preparation 
for that unseen and eternal state of being which awaits you on 
your removal from the scenes of earth and time. In conclusion, 
I am led to remark — 

1. How infinitely we are indebted to our Lord Jesus Christ 
for marking out to us the way, and furnishing us with the means 
"whereby our life may be rendered immortally blessed. He 
came into the world, he assures us, that we might have life, 
and have it more abundantly. Existence we might have had, 
though he had not interposed in our behalf; but it would have 
been a fearful curse to us, — an existence in sin, in guilt and 
misery. But now the life within us may become an infinite 
blessing. Christ has taught us what that life is, and what its 
destination ; for he has brought life and immortality to light in 
his gospel. He has taught us too how that life may be devel- 
oped, purified, elevated and fitted to flourish forever in heaven. 
His doctrine enlightens, his grace ennobles, his promises ani- 
mate, his example encourages and quickens, while his spirit 
sanctifies, strengthens and wakes up the soul to devout aspira- 
tions after that perfected life m glory and blessedness which he 
has promised to all his true friends. Hence Christ is said to 
be our life, — and he is so, not merely as he is the author of 
our future happiness, but because he quickens the vital princi- 
ple within us by his life giving spirit; wakes it up to new ac- 
tivity, to holier aims, to nobler purposes and brighter hopes. 
In a word, he gives us more of life ; more of quickened sensi- 
bility, of pure thought, of enlarged view, and of sweet peace 
and joy and blessedness, with a higher capability of increasing 
forever in all which adds dignity and worth to an immortal 
nature. * These are the true essential elements of a right life, 
and they are all derived from Christ, form a vital union with 



LIFE — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 73 

him as our head. Let us then ever feel our indebtedness to 
Christ for the Hfe we have, and for the Hfe we hope for in the 
kingdom of glory. And let us learn the great practical truth 
derived from this view of our subject, that we in reality live 
only as we live in Christ and live to Christ ; or as the scriptures 
express it, only as he lives in us, and is in us the hope of glory ; — 
so that if we would have our life increased, ennobled, made 
truly Christ-like and blessed, we must abide much in commun- 
ion with our head; yield our life to the conduct of his spirit, 
and thus the life of God begun in us here shall be increased 
more and more in vigor and blessedness, and finally attain the 
perfection, for which it was designed, in the presence of God 
and amid the glories of an eternal heaven. 

2. Our subject teaches us how we may make a long life even 
of a short one. Life, in its proper sense, is not mere exist- 
ence ; a stone has existence. It is not mere animation ; for a 
tree has animation, and so has an oyster and an ox. But 
neither has life understanding by life, the vital, principle of a 
living intelligent soul. Nor has such a soul life, any further 
than its living energies are brought out in action, and its exist- 
ence is filled up with thought, and feeling, and with deeds and 
fruits of useful living. 

Life, says Fuller, is to be measured by action, not by time ; 
a man may die old at thirty, and young at eighty; the one lives 
after death, the other perished before he died. 

The man who merely vegetates through existence, who rises 
day by day only to eat and drink and pursue the same unre- 
flecting- round of business and pleasure, without any lofty 
thought, or pure spiritual emotion, or holy aim or high purpose 
to live for God and eternity, — to such a man, life, in its true 
s'gnificance, is not life, it is a thing of naught, it is lost.* 

Most truly it is said by the poet: 

We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 

In feelings, not in figures on a dial, 

We should count time by heart throbs ; 

He most lives, who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 

It is the man who is awake and alive to the scenes around 
him; whose mind ranges abroad over the Creator's works and 
is happy in his love and service, and who seizes time as it 
passes and fills it up with good devised and good done, — this is 

*Cairn's Sermons, p. 318. 



74 LIFE — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

the man who lives long in a short time. There are hours and 
days, we all know, when we have much more of life, and o? being, 
if I may so say, than we have at others; and if we ask what 
it is that makes the difference, the answer is ; the vital principle, 
the living energies of our living souls are more active, more 
awake and alive to the calls of duty and to the objects and 
scenes which are proper to engage our attention, and are 
adapted to enlarge our views, to animate our desires and raise 
our hearts to God and heaven, the sum and the center of all good. 

We see then how even a short life may be made a long 
one. It is to fill up every day and hour as it passes with 
useful doings; it is to have our minds awake and girt for 
action; it is to have our bosoms filled with good thoughts 
and right feelings ; with aspirations and purposes and hopes 
corresponding with the nature and design of the life which 
God breathed into us when we became living souls, — he whp 
lives thus will live long in a short time ; and brief though be 
the period allotted him on earth, it will be long in the estima- 
tion of Him who measures life not by days, but by labors, and 
its years, not by the lapse of time, but by fruits. In the great 
coming harvest time, my friends, the question will be, not how 
long, but how much. In the reckoning of heaven that is the 
longest life which best answers life's great end, which is best 
nurtured and trained and filled up with duty and fruitfulness 
unto God. He who fails here, who lives only to himself and 
the world, is dead while he liveth, and should life be prolonged 
a thousand years, he would still be an infant in age, in mind 
and character, and die under a greater accursedness. 

3. Our subject is fitted to show us how serious and how im- 
portant to us are the daily events of life, — the influences which 
act upon us in the various circles in which we are called to 
move. These are the instrumental means employed by provi- 
dence for our discipline and training; the development of our 
life, the formation of our character, the fixing of our state in 
eternity. A human being shut up in a dark room and excluded 
from all intercourse with other human beings, could scarcely 
be said to live or to have a character, in any other sense than 
a mere animal has. He would want the essential elements of 
rousing his soul into action, or the life principle within him to 
a consciousness of thought and feeling. But bring him abroad 
among the works of the Creator; set him in the midst of the 
living stirring world around him, and let him see what and 



LIFE ITS NATCKE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 75 

where he is, and come under the influence of the various ob- 
jects of time, and the events of providence, and you change 
entirely his situation, his responsibility and his destiny. Every 
creatui'e, every object and every event now becomes important 
to him, because all combine to bring out the living principle of 
the living soul, to wake up desire and thought and move to 
feeling, purpose and action. These form the character and fix 
the condition of the deathless spirit. Thus are we all situated 
in the present world. We live in the midst of innumerable 
objects of deep and moving interest, and events are occurring 
every day whose influence we can not escape, if we would, and 
which must inevitably operate to shape and mould our life 
character, and form us for our dwelling-place hereafter, in hap- 
piness or in misery, in heaven or in hell. All your changes and 
all your trials; what you see and hear and do from day to day; 
what you enjoy and what you suffer; what you possess and 
what you want, — all is disciplinary, adapted and designed to 
try your feelings, to bring out the principles that dwell in you, 
to act on your life and your character, and thuS to form you for 
a place at God's right hand, or fit you for the world of despair. 
No object is now unimportant, no event uninteresting. All 
are important, all interesting, and that because all stand con- 
nected with your eternity, and will have an effect on your 
condition endless ages after the scenes of earth. and time have 
passed away. Watch and pray then that you enter not into 
temptation. Remember that you have begun a life which is 
never to end, and that the solemn question, whether that life 
shall expand and glow amid the joys of heaven, or wither and 
die amid the woes of hell, depends upon the manner in which 
you pass the time of your sojourning on earth. Let this fact 
be always present to your mind, and be it your daily endeavor 
and constant prayer to God that you may be so kept in his fear 
and love, that all the influences of every kind, that act upon 
you, may serve as a salutary discipline and training to detach 
you from the vain things of earth and time and fit you for im- 
mortal life in heaven. 

4. Life in respect to each of us is every day becoming more 
and more serious and impressive in its responsibilities and 
prospects. It is so, because its powers are being more fully de- 
veloped, and its character more and more permanently fixed. 
It is so, because the period of discipline and probation is fast 
drawing to a close, and results are thrown forward to greet us 



76 LIFE — ITS NATURE, DISCIPLINE AND RESULTS. 

on our entering into eternity with welcomes of joy or signals 
of wo. It is so, in fine, because every day we live bears us 
nearer and still nearer to that awful point in our history, a 
point unknown to us, when the great work of preparation for 
eternity will be ended, and we shall each one take our place 
among the redeemed in glory, heirs of immortal life, or with 
the lost in despair, children of wrath. With what serious con- 
cern, then, does it become every one of us to review our past 
course in life and inquire, whither it has been conducting us ; 
for what state we have been preparing, during the time we 
have spent on earth. This is an inquiry which every hearer 
is bound to bring home to himself, and with all seriousness seek 
to answer it as in the presence of God. Are you young, just 
setting out in life, as we say? Then are you in the most im- 
portant and critical period of your whole existence; and how 
earnestly should you ask, now, when the vital principle is burst- 
ing into action and you are commencing your course for enter- 
nity, to what point in that unseen world are you directing your 
steps, in what state beyond death are you to pass the endless 
ages of your future being? Are you of middle age, having 
already spent thirty or forty years in this state of probation ? 
How much then does it concern you to inquire whither those 
years have been bearing you ? What direction have they given 
to your life, and, where will that direction conduct you if contin- 
ued to the end of your earthly course? Or have you advanced 
still further on your journey through the world, so that you are 
now descending into the vale of years? Then it is still more 
important to ask, how has past time been spent by you, what 
has been the effect of the various discipline to which your 
life has been subjected, what character has it acquired and 
where is it likely to terminate in respect to you when a few 
more days and nights have passed away? These are serious 
questions, and I would leave them pressing on the conscience 
of each one of my hearers. 

In a closing word, let me say, — each of you has a deathless 
spirit within, a living immortal soul; it may bear the image of 
God, and live forever in his presence; or it may be blasted 
under the curse of God, lost in sin, to sink in endless wo. 
And every day as it passes over you is making impressions on 
that soul, is drawing forth and directing its life, and bearing 
you forward to a place at God's right hand, or far away from 
his presence to the world of endless despair. O, then be wise 



LESSONS FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, ETC. 77 

to attend, in this your daj, to the things of your eternal peace, 
lest they be hidden forever from your eyes. Think of the 
soul within you as a living, immortal principle, and throw it 
not away as a worthless thing, as many do; but aspire to have 
its life laid up with Christ in the presence of God ; then when 
he who is your life shall appear, you shall appear with him in 
glory. 



SERMON YII. 



LESSONS FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN THE GIFT OF A 

SAVIOUR. 

John iii : 16. For God so loved the world that he. gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting 
life. 

The Rev. Mr. Nott, one of the earliest English missionaries 
in the South Sea Islands, was, on a certain occasion, reading a 
portion of the Gospel of John to a number of. the natives. 
When he had JSnished the sixteenth verse, chosen as our text, 
a native who had listened attentively, interrupted him and said ; 
What words were those you read? What sounds were those I 
heard? Let me hear those words again. Mr. Nott again read 
the verse, God so loved the world that he gave his only begot- 
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but 
have everlasting life. The poor native then rose from his seat 
and said, Is that true? Can that be true? God love the 
world, when the world would not love him; God so love the 
world, as to give his Son to die, that man might not die. Can 
that be true? Mr. Nott read the verse a third time, and 
told him it was true, and that it was the message God had sent 
to them, and that whosoever believed in him, would not perish, 
but be happy after death. The feelings of the wondering na- 



78 LESSONS PROM THE LOVE OP GOD 

tive were too powerful for expression or restraint. He burst 
into tears, and, as these ran down his face, he retired to medi- 
tate in private on the amazing love of God, which had that 
day touched his heart, and he afterwards gave pleasing evi- 
dence that, won by the love of God, shed abroad in his soul, 
he became a disciple of Christ and an heir of heaven. And 
surely, my brethren, no passage of scripture can be selected 
better adapted to meet and subdue the heart of man, than' that 
which produced so powerful an effect on the mind of the poor 
islander. It brings God before us in the infinitude of his con- 
descension and love, seeking the salvation of our lost race, by 
a sacrifice, which proclaims at once the greatness of his com- 
passion, and the depth of man's helplessness and misery. And 
could I have but one text of scripture to retain for my own 
comfort, or impart for the comfort of others passing on with me 
to the scenes of another world, I know not one which I would 
more eagerly select, than that which has been chosen as the 
subject of present meditation. It comprises the whole gospel 
in few words, and these words so plain, that none need mistake 
their meaning, and so tender and moving in their spirit and 
design, that none, it would seem, could fail to be subdued and 
won by them to the obedience of faith. 

The text, in its obvious import, would lead us to reflect on 
the greatness of the love of God in the gift of his son to be 
our Saviour. But on this theme, in the way of direct discus- 
sion, it is not my purpose to dwell in the present discourse. 
I choose rather to direct your attention to a series of remarks 
on topics suggested by the text, and growing out of it, and 
which, if suitably illustrated, will, I think, bring before you its 
true spirit and meaning. I observe then, — * 

1. In the first place, that the fact asserted in the text proves 
our world, unredeemed, to have been in a most miserable 
and hopeless condition. There are many proofs of the deep 
guilt and utter ruin of our race as apostate from God ; but no 
proof of this fact is more conclusive or more affecting than is 
found in the love which moved the Eternal Father to give his 
only-begotten Son to die for our redemption. The greatness 
of the sacrifice made for the world's atonement is the true 
measure of its deep, irretrievable ruin. If the sin of man had 
been small or the misery of his condition slight, God would 
surely have spared his own Son, the deep and mysterious suf- 
ferings of the cross. But he delivered him up to be bruised 



IN THE GIFT OF A SAVIOUR. 79 

and to be put to grief on our account. He laid on Lim the 
iniquities of us all, gave him to suffer and die, the just for the 
unjust, that a way might be opened to extend pardon and life 
to the guilty and the lost. It was compassion for a world dead 
in sin, sunk in apostacy and exposed to the sufferings of eternal 
death, which engaged God to interpose and provide redemption 
at so great a price as that of the gift of his Son, to die for us ; 
and no demonstration of man's hopeless guilt and ruin is so 
complete and overwhelming, as is furnished in that love of God, 
which has provided a ransom for us in the atoning blood of 
Christ his Son. Surely, the stain of that guilt must have 
been awfully deep which behooved to be washed out by the 
precious blood of Christ. Surely, that condemnation must 
have been fearfully irremediable which could be canceled by 
no other ransom than that which was paid in the mediation and 
death of him who is one with the Father, and who had glory 
with him before the world was. 

If then you would obtain just and affecting views of the gr^at 
evil of sin, and of the complete ruin of the world, and of your 
own ruin on account of sin, take your position at the foot of 
the cross, — think of the love which provided a sacrifice in the 
wondrous victim that hung thereon; consider how, rather than 
man should perish eternally in that state where the worm 
dieth not and the fire is not quenched, God was moved to give 
his Son, and the Son himself, who thought it not robbery to be 
equal with God, consented to take upon him our nature, to as- 
sume our place, to be a man of sorrows, to be wounded for our 
transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and at length to 
endure the sharpness of death, even the death of the cross, 
that he might deliver us from the wrath to come, and open the 
kingdom of heaven to all that believe on him, — fill your mind 
with these views derived from the love of God in the gift of 
his Son, and from the compassion of the Son in giving him^ 
self to die for us, — and the conviction will come over you with, 
deep, abiding effect, that this was a dead world, all dead, and 
hopelessly dead, in sin and misery, but for the redeeming mercy 
of God in Christ. 

2. The mere fact that God has given his Son to die for the 
world does not essentially change its njjserable condition; does 
not, by itself, save it from sin and its consequences. It is 
assumed by some, especially by Universalists, that because 
God gave his Son to die for the world, therefore the world will 
8 



80 LESSONS FROM THE LOVE OF GOD 

be saved, all saved. But tins assumption, while it is contra- 
dicted by the general current of scripture, derives no support, 
whatever, from the fact asserted in our text. That fact goes 
no further, than to assure us, that a way is opened, a provision 
made, whereby the world may be saved. The assertion is, not 
that all shall be saved, simply because God loved the world 
and gave his Son to die for it; but that whosoever helieveth 
might be saved, might not perish, but have everlasting life. 
And in the verse following our text, it is said, God sent not his 
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world 
through him might be saved. The whole transaction, you per- 
ceive, was conditional. The mere fact of God's giving his Son 
to die does not, by itself, secure the salvation of any one of our 
race. It merely opens the way by which we may be saved. 
It assures us of the placability of God, of his love to mankind, 
and of his readiness to pardon and save all who believe in the 
Son of his love, but it does nothing more. It leaves the world 
just where it found it, in estrangement from God and under 
the condemnation of his law, with this single exception, which 
is indeed an important one, that whereas without the gift of a 
Saviour, salvation was utterly unattainable, it is now atttainble 
by all who repent and believe. The effect of God's giving his 
Son was to move out of the way an impassable barrier to par- 
don, and to open the door of salvation to all who wdll enter in 
and be saved in . the way or on the conditions prescribed. 
The parable of the marriage supper illustrates the truth in the 
case. The feast was prepared and the invitation sent forth — 
come, for all things are ready. But this by itself did not fur- 
nish the wedding with guests ; did not secure the compliance of 
a sinojle one with the invitation. All with one consent beo^an 
to make excuse, and went their way, in utter neglect of the 
ample provision that had been made for their entertainment. 
And so in the gift of a Saviour and the offer of eternal life 
through him. The gift itself is of infinite value; it is offered 
most freely to all who accept it, and to all who do accept it as 
presented in the gospel, it brings a free and full salvation. 
But then it must be accepted, accepted in faith and love, or it 
can be of no avail. The mere offering of an alms to a beggar 
can neither feed nor clothe him. So the offer of a Saviour to 
a guilty, perishing world, can not save the world, nor avert 
from any one of its miserable inhabitants the threatened pun- 
ishment of sin. Hence I remark. 



IN THE GIFT OF A SAVIOUR. 81 

3. That notwithstanding all that God has done in giving his 
Son to die for lost men, something remains to be done by them, 
or none will be saved. And this is just analagous to what is 
witnessed in the common affairs of life. God has made the 
earth to afford sustenance for man ; and he causes his sun to 
shine and his rain to fall upon it, that it may bring forth what 
is needful for his subsistence. But the ground must be culti- 
vated, the seed cast in and carefully watched in its springing 
and growth, or no fruit is yielded and no harvest gathered. 
God has furnished man abundantly with the means of improve- 
ment and of happiness. These means exist as a sort of raw 
material in the earth, in the air, in the sea, in all things beneath, 
around and within us. But they must be luorked, must be used 
with skill and care, in order to answer the end for which they 
are given. No man acquires knowledge without study, nor 
wealth without diligence, nor intiuence and happiness in the 
world without using the talents God has given, and the means 
he bestows upon him. This is a law which holds in all the re- 
lations and pursuits of life. God supplies the means of good ; 
man uses them; and if he neglects to do this, he is sure to be 
overtaken by poverty, misery and ruin. All the resources of 
nature, rich and abundant as they are, can not avail to raise 
any one to knowledge, virtue and happiness, without his own 
diligent and persevering exertions. So it is in the great con- 
cern of the soul's salvation. God in the gospel of his Son, has 
made ample provision for the supply of all our wants ; grace to 
enlighten, to sanctify, to pardon and save with an everlasting 
salvation; he gave his Son to die for this very end; and in this 
highest expression of his love he has come very near and 
opened to our acceptance all fhe treasures of his grace and 
truth; but all this will be of no avail unless we are moved to 
hearken to the voice of God, waiting to be gracious, repent of 
sin, believe in Christ and yield ourselves into his hands to be 
guided and governed, and to be formed and fitted for his king- 
dom. With all the treasures of God's love and mercy spread 
before you and pressed on your acceptance, it is just as certain 
that you will die in your sins and perish without hope, unless 
you do what is required of you that you may be saved, as it 
would be, if no Saviour had been provided, and no voice of 
mercy had ever been heard inviting you to come to that Saviour 
for pardon and life. Nay more, the gift of a Saviour, and the 
free invitation that you come to him for life will only enhance 



82 LESSONS FROM THE LOVE OF GOD 

your guilt and bring upon you a more fearful condemnation, if, 
notwithstanding all the grace and mercy thus displayed before 
you in the gospel, you still remain unmoved, in impenitence and 
unbelief — according to that sentiment of Christ, that it shall 
be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judg- 
ment than for those who hear, but refuse to accept the overtures 
of his grace in the gospel. 

4. The fact asserted in the text proves most affectingly that 
God's heart is in the great work of savin^r men. No hisfher 
evidence of this could possibly be furnished than his giving his 
Son to die for the world's redemption. I see evidence of the 
goodness and mercy of God wherever I look, wherever I am. 
I see it in the works of creation and in the beneficence of prov- 
idence; in the rising and setting of the sun, in the gentle falling 
of the rain, in the teeming bounties of earth, and in the rich 
provisions of every sort and on every hand, which are made 
for the subsistence and happiness of man. I see, moreover, 
that God is compassionate and long-suffering towards the un- 
grateful and guilty children of men; he spares them in life, 
surrounds them with his blessings, and in thousands of ways 
shows his kindness and forbearance towards those who never 
think of him, and make no other return for his benefits than in- 
gratitude, rebellion and sin. When I witness these things, I 
am constrained to say that God is indeed a God of mercy and 
grace ; nor can I doubt his willingness to pardon and save all 
who turn unto him and seek his favor. But the strongest and 
most afifecting evidence of this truth is after all found in the 
gift of his Son to be the Saviour of the world. Here is dem- 
onstration which can not be resisted. It is God speaking in the 
infinitude of his love to the deepest sensibilities of the inner 
man, giving assurance, in the most affecting of all proofs, that 
his heart of infinite benevolence and mercy is set upon the great 
work of man's salvation, and that none, who are willing to ac- 
cept the overtures of his grace, shall ever be sent empty away. 

See how this great truth is pressed on your attention. God, 
the infinite God, moved by pure love, in view of the guilt and 
misery of your condition, gave his Son to die for you; to die 
for the world amid the agonies of the garden and the cross, an 
atoning sacrifice for sin. Then divine instruction is poured 
upon you, as the light of day, from the word of truth, showing 
you your sin and danger, and pointing you to the mercy of God 
in Christ, free as the air you breathe, and ample to meet and 



IN THE GIFT OF A SAVIOUR. 83 

remove all jour wants. Then the means of grace of various 
name and in rich abundance are furnished you — invitations, 
promises, warnings, threatenings. Sabbaths, means innumerable 
— all adapted and designed to show you the love of God in re- 
demption, to demonstrate the sincerity and earnestness of his 
heart in seeking your salvation, and to win you back to his favor 
and service. Added to all, the gift of his spirit to enlighten 
your darkness, to strengthen your weakness, to give you a sense 
of the love of God in Christ, and to lead you to put your trust 
in him as the only and all-sufficient Saviour of lost men. In 
these, and in various other ways, God commendeth his love to 
your notice; shows how intent he is upon your salvation, and 
how read}' to receive you into his everlasting friendship, on 
your turning to him for help, and believing in his Son as your 
Saviour. 

The truth here brought to view is of infinite importance to 
be impressed on the mind. It shows us God in the character 
of a kind and merciful father, waiting to welcome returning 
prodigals to his bosom. It assures every anxious inquiring sin- 
ner, however great his un worthiness and guilt, that every obsta- 
cle to his salvation on the part of God, is moved out of the 
way, and that the love, which provided for him a Saviour, is 
love going forth to meet him in his deepest wants, and is ready 
this moment to seal to him all the blessings of a Saviour's pur- 
chase. It shows, too, in a most affecting light, the ingratitude 
and hardness of heart of all such, as in resis'tance of the love 
of God, remain still in estrangement from him, wedded to sin 
and death. All such are self-destroyers. They perish need- 
lessly; perish when the love of God is waiting to save them; 
perish of course under an exceedingly aggravated weight of 
guilt and righteous condemnation. O ye, who are living in 
neglect of the great salvation, and carelessly pursuing the way 
to death, will ye pause, for a moment, and consider what you 
are doing, and what the end to which you are hastening? God 
meets you, in his infinite love, here on your way to eternity, 
lost in sin, and proffers you his everlasting friendship in Christ, 
whom he gave to be your Saviour. He assures you, that on 
his part all things are ready for your salvation ; and that believ- 
ing in his Son, the gracious Redeemer of lost men, you shall 
not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the message which 
eternal truth continually sounds in your hearing, while you lin- 
ger here, a few brief days, in this world of mercy, ere you go 
8* 



84 LESSONS FROM THE LOTE OF GOD, ETC. 

to give up your account unto God the Judge of all. And what 
reception give you to this message of love from your Saviour 
and God? Does it arrest your attention; does it enlist your 
faith, does it draw forth responses of gratitude and love, and 
lead you to devote your souls to him who died for you and rose 
again? O no; but all this infinite kindness and mercy are re- 
paid with cold indifference, with ungrateful neglect, with pre- 
sumptuous, soul-destroying neglect. How will this appear, dear 
hearer, on your dying bed; how will it appear when you shall 
enter eternity and go to stand before God in judgment? Either 
all that the Bible says of the love of God in the gift of a Sa- 
viour is fiction, or the conduct now described in neglecting 
and disregarding that love is marked with infinite guilt, and 
must end in bringing down upon the soul a just and awful con- 
demnation. 

5. Let us all learn from the great truth asserted in our text, 
that we are welcome to come to God for the supply of all our 
wants. It matters not how many nor how great* those wants 
are. They are all provided for in the gift of a Saviour; and 
in the infinite, everlasting love of God which bestowed that 
gift, we have assurance that he will withhold no good thing fiom 
them that come to him for help through Christ. Mark how the 
Apostle reasons on this subject. He that spared not his own 
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him 
^Iso freely give us all things. The argument, you perceive, is 
from the greater to* the less. Having in infinite love given his 
Son to die for us, our God and Father will, most certainly, with 
him, freely give us all needed grace to help us in the Christian life 
and bring us home, in peace and joy, to his heavenly kingdom. 
Let us receive this truth into our bosoms, and let it abide there 
as a living practical principle. Let us dismiss from our minds 
every thing that savors in the least of a spirit of bondage and 
fear, and let us learn to come boldly to the throne of grace that 
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 
We all have our wants, our imperfections, our sorrows, our sins. 
And we are not sufficient of ourselves to bear or to remove 
them. But we have all-sufficiency in God; and while we look 
to him as our father and cherish a lively sense of his infinite 
love in the gift of his Son to be our Saviour, new light will 
spring up in our bosoms, new strength be imparted to our 
souls, new joy and hope attend our journey in life, and a brighter 
crown await us on our entrance into our Father's house in 



man's capability, etc. 

heaven. There is a power in the love of God manifested in 
the gift of a Saviour, when duly apprehended and kept near to 
the heart, which turns into weakness all other means of over- 
coming the world, and of forming the soul meet for its heavenly 
inheritance. While you cherish a lively apprehension of this 
love, bringing it home to your thoughts and feelings by frequent 
meditation and prayer, you will be sensible of an influence 
within, operating to draw you nearer and nearer to God, to en- 
lighten, animate and comfort you in the divine life, and make 
you fruitful in all the graces of the Christian character. You 
will have a freedom in coming to God, in all your times of need, 
and he will meet you with new supplies of grace in all your pil- 
grimage on earth, and finally raise you to dwell for ever in his 
presence in glory. 



SERMON YIII. 



man's capability of future glory and blessedness. 

• 1. John 3: 2. Beloved, now are Ave the sons of God; and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall 
be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 

A DARK, impenetrable veil hangs over the future world, 
beyond which the unaided eye of man can not penetrate. 
But it hath pleased God, so far to lift up that veil as to give us 
some faint glimpses of that exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory, which he has purposed to bestow on his friends in the 
state beyond the grave. He has assured us that we are to 
exist in that state; exist for ever; and that he has provided for 
them that love him joys which eye hath not seen nor ear heard 
nor the heart of man conceived. But though enough is revealed 
to us of the future for all important, practical purposes : still it 
is but a little that we do know,- or can know of that invisible 



86 man's CAPABILIXr OF 

state in which we are so soon to take up our everlasting abode. 
The moment we turn our thoughts to the contemplation of that 
state, a thousand inquiries crowd upon the mind, which we feel 
ourselves wholly unable to answer. How — if through grace we 
attain to that glory — how we shall arrive at the heavenly state; 
what will be the mode of our existence there ; how we shall 
know and converse with each other; how we shall pass from 
place to place, and in what particular manner we shall be era- 
ployed — these, and a multitude of similar questions, the Bible 
furnishes us no means of answering; and of course we shall 
remain in entire ignorance in regard to them, until we learn 
their solution amid the scenes of eternity. One thing however 
is plain ; it stands out with great prominency in the teachings of 
the Bible, and is pressed upon our attention by various striking 
notices within and without us, — It is this, — there is a dignity 
and a glory in the future destiny of man of which we can now 
form no adequate conception. It doth not yet appear what we 
shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be 
like him, for we shall see him as he is. The text was spoken 
with direct reference to the future blessedness of Christians, 
who in the first clause of the verse are called the sons of God. 
But not to confine our attention to this specific view of the 
subject; permit me, in the present discourse, to bring before 
you some evidences of the fact, that there is something incon- 
ceivably grand and glorious in the future destiny of man. I 
speak not here of what man ivill be, however he may conduct 
in this life, but of what he is capable of becoming ; of what he 
is fitted and designed to be, as an intelligent, immortal being. 
I observe then, 

1. That that strong, unappeasable desire, that longing after . 
a higher good than this world affords, which seems inherent in 
the nature of man, points to something great and glorious in 
his future destiny. This was wont to be appealed to by the 
ancient heathen philosophers, as among the strongest proofs 
of the soul's immortality. They saw that the brute animals 
are satisfied with their present condition, and have no regard 
to any thing beyond the supply of their present wants. They 
saw, on the contrary, that man is never satisfied; that, be his 
earthly condition what it may, he always longs for something 
better, and is perpetually prompted, by the very constitution of 
his nature, to desire and to seek a higher and more enduring 
good than the world can afford him. From this they argued 



FUTURE GLOET AND BLESSEDNESS. 87 

that man was created for higher and nobler ends than can be 
attained in this world. And plainly there is much force in the 
argument. For, assuming the wisdom and goodness of the 
Creator, it may be a*ked, why should he implant in the nature 
of man a desire after immortality, if he did not mean to grat- 
ify that desire; or why awaken in him longings after unearthly, 
eternal happiness, if he has made no provisions to appease 
those lonj^ino-s? The wise and benevolent God has made noth- 
ing in vain; has implanted within us no principles for the exer- 
cise of which he has not provided appropriate objects. And 
since he has taught us, by the very nature he has given us, to 
desire and hope for an immortal existence, and to look and long 
for a happiness which is no where to be found on earth ; it is 
reasonable to infer, that he has destined us to exist forever, and 
has provided for us a good which will till the large desires of 
the soul. 

These desires are not, and can not be satisfied in the 
present state. Place man in any earthly situation; give him 
wealth, give him power, give him honor, pleasure, all that 
the world can afford; still there will be a void within, still he 
will groan and travail in pain, and look, and long, and sigh 
after enjoyments which the fleeting objects of time and sense 
can never afford him. Alexander, after having conquered the 
world, is said to have sat down and wept that there were no 
more worlds to conquer. It is just so with man, with every 
man, whenever and in whatever situation found. With all that 
the world can give him, he sighs and weeps for more. His 
thoughts, and his hopes stretch beyond the shadows of earth 
and time and fasten on the skies, and nothing can satisfy him 
but a happinesss which is adapted to his rational, immortal na- 
ture, and will last forever. These facts clearly show that this 
world was never designed to be the home, the resting place, the 
final abode of man ; he was made by the Creator for a higher 
and hobler state of being, and can therefore never be satisfied 
or truly happy till he attains it. 

2. If we consider the capacities of man, we shall perceive 
still stronger evidence that he is destined to something; incon- 
ceivably grand and glorious in the progress of his future being. 
Though fallen from his original dignity and degraded by sin, 
man is still noble in ruins. He is now, most plainly, but in the 
infancy of his being, just entered upon the threshold of his exist- 
ence, with all the faculties of his mind in a state of immaturity 
and weakness. Still, we perceive in him capacities for high and 



88 man's capability of 

noble attainments ; capacities which stamp on his existence the 
seal of eternity, and point to another state of being as that in 
which the powers of his soul, are to attain their full develop- 
ment. 

1. Man possesses an immortal nature; is made for an end- 
less existence. The body, the material frame work of the 
soul, soon decays, dies and turns back to dust. But this 
affects not the existence of the living, thinking spirit. This 
is distinct from matter, immortal in its nature, and is des- 
tined to exist forever. This might be inferred with much 
certainty from the spiritual nature of the soul, from its instinc- 
tive desires and hopes, and from the general belief of mankind 
in the doctrine of immortality. But whatever doubt might 
exist in relation to this subject, viewed simply in the light of 
reason, it is wholly, removed by the clearer light of revelation. 
Here the doctrine of the souFs immortality is established by the 
authority of Him who made us; and on that authority, we 
have assurance that each of us has entered upon an existence 
which is never to end, which is to run on parallel with the ex- 
istence of God himself. This single fact opens before us a 
scene of sublime and affecting interest, and impresses upon 
every human soul, a value in comparison with which the whole 
world sinks into insignificance and nothing. 

2. Man has a capacity for endless progress in knowledge. The 
great law of mind is expansion, is improvement, and we know of 
no assignable limits to this law. The more a man knows, the 
more he is capable of knowing, and the more he desires to 
know ; and if both the capacity and the desire for knowledge 
increase with the acquisition, who can tell w^hat progress in 
intellectual attainments the mii.d will make during the endless 
ages of its future being? Even in this life, amidst all the clogs 
and hindrances which embarrass the soul's operations, the most 
astonishing advances in knowedge are often made in a few 
short years. What an immense difference between the mind 
of Newton an infant, and the mind of Newton a philosopher? 
And if, notwithstanding all the unfavorable circumstances in 
which it is here placed, the mind is capable of rising to such 
heights of knowledge, what will it not be able to accomplish 
hereafter, when it shall be freed from the incumbrances of 
a gross material body, dwell in the presence of God, have him 
for its teacher and eternity for its learning? 

3. Man has a capacity for endless improvement in moral 



FUTURE GLORY AND BLESSEDNESS. 89 

excellence or holiness. He is qualified to be perfectly con- 
formed to the will of God, to reflect his image, and to be holy- 
even as he is holy. This was his character as he came from 
the hand of his Maker, it is required to be his character now ; 
and we know from the word of God, that this is to be the 
character of all the redeemed in the future world. They are 
there to be like Christ, to resemble him in every benevolent 
and holy affection; and as they are capable of growing in 
knowledge, so also are they of growing in grace, in constant 
and endless progression. The more their intellectual and 
moral powers expand, and the more they know of God and 
his works ; the more perfectly will they be qualified to love and 
serve him, and the more exalted and glorious will they become 
in moral dignity and holiness, which constitute the supreme 
glory of God. 

4. Mam has a capacity for great and noble actions, and for 
constant and evergrowing usefulness in the kingdom of God. 
He was made to be a co-worker with angels and God ; and 
doubtless in that higher state of being, which he is capable of 
attaining, and in the exercise of the renewed and greatly invig- 
orated powers which he will there possess, he will be constantly 
and delightfully employed in doing the will and glorifying the 
name of his God and King; eternally rising higher and higher 
in usefulness, as he will in knowledge and in holiness. In 
what particular way the redeemed of the Lord are hereafter to 
be occupied we are not informed. But we can have no doubt, 
that each and all of them will be forever employed in that 
sphere for which the divine wisdom and goodness prepared them, 
and in which they will be best qualified to honor God and pro- 
mote the happiness of his holy kingdom. 

5. It must be added, that man has a capacity for endless 
advancement in happiness. This necessarily results from what 
has already been said. For if man is destined to an immortal 
existence, and is capable of advancing forever in knowledge, in 
holiness and usefulness, what should prevent a corresponding 
progress in blessedness? Happiness in a rational being is the 
necessary result of the right and useful exercise of all his 
powers. This is the source of ha'ppiness in God, in the angels 
and in all the redeemed in heaven ; and as there is no assigna- 
ble limit to man's capacity for intellectual and moral improve- 
ment and usefulness, so there is no assignable limit to the pro- 
gress he may make in joy and blessedness, — no point in the 



90 man's capability of 

career of his future existence where it can be said, — thus far 
his happiness can go and no farther. Such are the capacities 
of man, — he bears on his soul the impress of immortality; is 
qualified by the nature God has given him to rise eternally in 
all that is dignified, noble and happy. There must then be 
something inconceivably great and glorious in his future destiny. 
Consider, 

3. What provisions God has made to satisfy the wants of 
man, and fill the large capacities of the soul with good. Ever 
since the morning of creation, when God made man in his 
image, and gave him dominion over his works, he has been 
continually operating for his good. Behold this world in all 
its magnificence and beauty, appointed to be his habitation, and 
to minister to his improvement and happiness. Look abroad 
upon the earth, and see what a profusion of gifts it is contin- 
ually pouring into the bosom of man, — what an endless variety 
of objects it presents for his use and his comfort. Look up to 
the heavens and see, how, for the good of man, the sun, moon 
and stars are ordained to run their courses through the skies, 
producing the agreeable alternation of day and night, and the 
beautiful succession of the seasons. Stretch your views still 
further, and take in those myriads of systems of worlds which 
are spread over us as a broad canopy of glory, and ask why it 
is that the Crealor has brought them within the range of our 
vision and of our study, if it be not to exalt our conceptions of 
his majesty and glory, and to give us some glimpses of those 
interminable fields of knowledge and improvement which he 
has provided for the contemplation and use of man? Turn 
next to the wonders of redeeming love, and see how, from age 
to age, God has been operating for the salvation of our race, 
lost in sin; how he gave his son to die, the just for the unjust; 
how his angels have been sent abroad on errands of mercy to 
the children of men ; ministering spirits to those who shall be 
heirs of salvation; how his messengers of grace have been 
commissioned to publish the tidings of mercy to a ruined 
world ; how the Holy Spirit visits the bosoms of the needy and 
perishing with his kindly invitations and drawings, and how all 
the motives of eternity are spread out before the eye of man 
and pressed on his heart, in all the urgency and kindness of 
everlasting love ; — all to direct his thoughts to the things of his 
future peace, and prepare him for the glorious destination which 
is before him. Tell me now, what is the meaning of all this ? 



FUTURE GLORY AND BLESSEDNESS. 91 

Why has God, for so many thousand years, paid such a pecul- 
iar regard to man ; why has he formed him with such powers, 
showered upon him such rich blessings and made such provi- 
sions for his eternal happiness, if there is not something un- 
speakably glorious in his future destiny? Much, it should be 
remembered, of what God has done and is doing for man has 
direct reference to his spiritual nature; it bears on the soul; on 
eternity; throws its results beyond the present life, and looks 
far into the scenes of the invisible world. This is especially 
true of God's works of grace; of the provisions of his mercy 
in Christ Jesus ; and with these in view, the conviction presses 
on my mind with overwhelming force, that there is a grandeur 
and a glory in the future destiny of man which surpass all 
that we can now think or conceive. 

4. Let us turn to the oracles of God, and learn what they 
reveal on this subject. We may not find there all that we 
might wish to gratify curiosity ; but we shall find all that we 
need to confirm our faith, and sustain our hopes. The scrip- 
tures assure us that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man the things which God has 
prepared for them that love him. They assure us that the 
faithful servants of God shall shine as the stars, and as the 
brightness of the firmament forever and ever ; that they shall 
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; that 
they shall be equal unto the angels; become partakers of the 
divine nature ; that they shall see God as he is; that they shall 
see him face to face; that they shall see as they are seen and 
know as they are known ; and that when Christ shall appear 
they shall be like him ; shall live in his presence, behold his 
glory and reign with him during endless ages. 

In other places the scriptures speak of a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory, prepared for the friends of God in 
the'future world; of their being the medium through which God 
has purposed to display the riches of his glory, and of their being 
pillars, monumental pillars, in the temple of God above, designed 
to show forth the manifold wisdom and glory of his name before 
the intelligent universe. The views presented in these scriptures 
are exceedingly striking. We are not indeed told in precise 
terms, what and how great the future glory of redeemed man 
is to be ; for in our present state we could not understand this 
subject, — but that glory is presented in such terms and under 
such images as are adapted to give us the highest ideas of its 
9 



92 man's capability of 

inconceivable greatness and excellence. It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be; but one thing is certain; when he shall ap- 
pear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. 

And now, my friends, let us endeavor to turn what has been 
said to some practical use. The scenes in which we are now 
conversant will quickly pass away. Our present life is a vapor. 
We die, as it were, to-morrow, and are seen here no more. But 
death is not the end of us. There lies before us an endless 
existence, the glory and blessedness of which, in respect to those 
who are prepared for it, no tongue of man or angel can ade- 
quately describe. This being so, how wise, it is obvious to re- 
mark — 

1. In the first place, how truly wise is it to be religious? 
What is religion? It is to act up to the dignity of our nature 
as made in the image of God, rational and immortal beings ; it 
is to look beyond the scenes of earth and time to those invisible 
realities which the word of God presents for our consideration, 
and prepare to meet them ; it is to love, reverence and serve 
the great Being who holds our destiny in his hand, and who 
alone can make us truly and for ever blessed; it is, in a word, 
to take care of" the immortal spirit within us, to keep in view, 
amidst all the pursuits of life, the endless existence before us, 
and to make it our first and chief concern to attain that infinite, 
everlasting good which the Creator has given us capacities to 
enjoy, and which he holds out as the sure inheritance of all 'his 
Ikithful servants. This is religion with its results ; and does it 
not bear the marks of the highest wisdom? Is it not wise to 
consider our latter end ; to inquire what is to become of us, after 
the close of the present short uncertain life; for what end we 
were made, and to what destiny we are hastening in the unseen 
world? When does the creature man appear so dignified and 
noble, or exhibit so much of rationality and wisdom, as when 
religion sits enthroned within, drawing him to God as his chief 
good, and leading him to aspire after that exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory which can alone fill the capacities and satisfy 
the desires of the immortal soul? However religion may be 
neglected and despised by some, it is nevertheless true, my 
friends ; that its foundations lie deep in your rational, immortal 
nature; its obligations grow out of the intellectual and moral 
powers with which the Creator has endued you ; its spirit and 
duties are essential to the wellbeing of the soul, and without it 
the highest, the greatest and the most honorable man on earth, 



FUTURE GLORY AND BLESSEDNESS. 93 

is but a poor, lost being, and must remain so for ever in the 
place of his future abode. This leads me to remark — 

2. How unworthy and degrading is a life o£ irreligion? a life 
spent in neglect of God and the soul; devoted to the cares and 
pursuits of the world? Jf there were no hereafter — if when 
we cease to breathe, that were the end of us, and we had nothing 
to hope and nothing to fear beyond the present life, it would, no 
doubt, be wise to act on the epicurean maxim — let us eat and 
drink, for to-morrow we die. . But such is not the character and 
condition of man. The Creator has enkindled within a spark 
which is never to be extinguished. He has endued us, each 
one, with noble powers of mind, capable of endless improve- 
ment, and has placed before us a prize to be attained, in com- 
parison with which the Avhole world is not worth naming. 
What now shall be said of a life which disregards this prize; 
which shuts the eye upon future scenes, and is careful only for 
the things of sense and time? Is it not an unworthy life, a 
melancholy debasement of man's nature, and a guilty abandon- 
ment of all the glory and blessedness which the God of love 
has provided for us? Of what value, in a little time, will all 
those things be which now most interest and absorb men of the 
world? Of what value will wealth be to the miser, or honor to 
the man of ambition, or pleasure to the tribes of those who live 
only for amusement? Can these things satisfy the desires or fill 
the capacities of the immortal mind; or can they be a portion 
for the soul in that eternal world to which we are all so fast hast- 
ening? No; they are but vanity and dust, enduring but a mo- 
ment, and then leave those who trusted in them for happiness 
to endless poverty and shame. And what must be the reflec- 
tions of a man who, on waking up in eternity, finds that he has 
bartered away everlasting joys for the fleeting vanities of earth 
and time ; that in his eagerness after the treasure that perish- 
eth, he neglected durable riches and glory, and that while 
qualified by his Maker to become an angel, and to share in an- 
gels' services and joys, he has made himself a fiend, an outcast 
from holiness and heaven, and fit only for a place in the world 
of despair ? Truly this will be a fire that is never quenched ; 
a worm that never dies ; an inward torment that will know no 
mitigation and no end ! 0, to forget God, to forget eternity, to 
neglect the soul and its immortal interests — how unwise, how 
irrational and ruinous is this ! 

Waiving other reflections of a general nature, let me, before 



94 • man's capability of 

I close, commend this subject directly to my hearers. Some of 
you profess to be Christians ; let me request you to consider, 
for a moment, what it is for which, as Christians, you profess to 
be hoping, into the possession of which you expect to enter 
whenever the spirit leaves the body, and that may be to-morrow, 
or the next hour, or the next minute. You hope for a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away ; to enter into the joy of your 
Lord, to dwell in the presence of Christ, to be like him, to see 
as you are seen, and know as you are known ; to be filled with 
all the fullness of God. And is all this reality, my brethren ? 
Yes, if you are indeed Christians. Let this hope then bring 
forth its appropriate fruits. Let it make you humble, thankful, 
obedient, happy, living above the world and near to God ; tes- 
tifying by your daily conversation and conduct, that though you 
have here no continuing city, you seek one to come, and there 
you have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
And if any, indulging this hope, are conscious of no clear, de- 
cisive influence from it, purifying their affections, elevating their 
aims, and drawing them in holy love and gratitude to God as 
their everlasting portion and friend; then let them renounce 
their hope, for it is doubtless a false one, and will perish as the 
spider's web in the day when God taketh away the soul. 

I turn to my youthful hearers, and would fain draw them into 
the path of piety and heaven, by pointing them to the glories 
which this subject brings to our view. You, my young friends, 
just now rising upon the stage of life, have commenced an ex- 
istence which is never to end ; and upon the course you pursue 
in this the morning of your being, it very much depends, 
whether that existence shall be a blessing or a curse to you ; 
shall be passed by you amid the joys of heaven or the woes of 
hell. God has impressed on your minds the seal of immortality ; 
he has given you powers capable of endless improvement, and 
is holding out to you the offer of his eternal friendship, a place 
among the redeemed in his kingdom ; a participation in the pure, 
everlasting joys which flow at his right hand. All this may be 
yours ; yours, on one only condition ; and that so plain, so easy, so 
good, that it would seem as if it would be only necessary to name 
it to engage immediate compliance from every one of you. Do 
you ask what it is ? Why, it is that you remember God your 
Creator, now while you are young ; it. is that you come to the 
Saviour, devote to him the morning of your days ; yield your 
souls to his guidance and love, to be formed after his image and 



FUTURE GLORY AND BLESSEDNESS. 95 

fitted for his presence in glory. And now, pre-eminently, is 
the time when this should be done. Now is with you the ac- 
cepted time, and now the day of salvation. Lift up your eyes, 
then, ye young immortals, and aspire to the glorious inheritance 
set before you. Send your thoughts forward, and ask what you 
will be and where you will be ten thousand ages hence. Shall 
those immortal faculties which the Creator has given you, ripen 
and expand eternally amid the glories of heaven; or shall they 
wither and perish eternally amid the darkness and miseries of 
hell? An awful question, my friends, and one which must soon 
be decided. O hasten to the Saviour, ere yet your steps take 
hold on death, and you stumble upon the dark mountains to rise 
no more. He will receive you ; he will save you, and make you 
partakers of that inconceivable and eternal weight of glory, 
which is the portion of all them that love him. 

Let me address a word to another class of my hearers ; I 
mean those, who amid the busy concerns of life, are neglecting 
the one thing needful. You admit, my friends, the leading truth 
which it has been the object of this discourse to press on your 
attention. You believe that you are immortal ; and you believe 
that the soul is capable of rising to a measure of knowledge, c€ 
holiness and blessedness, surpassing our highest conceptions. 
But then this glory, this blessedness is not yours simply because 
you are capacitated to enjoy it. It is placed before you in the 
kindness and mercy of God, as a treasure of infinite value, to 
which you are invited to aspire, and which you may possess as 
your own blessed inheritance for ever; and the question now 
pending is, whether you will accept of this infinite good and live 
for ever in holiness and happiness, or neglect it and die for ever 
in sin and misery. This is indeed the question which is this 
moment pending in respect to each one of my impenitent hear- 
ers, and which must be decided in a few years at longest, and 
may be decided at any instant of time by the simple stopping 
of you rbreath. What now are you doing who are most deeply 
concerned in the decision of this question ? Are you seeking, 
striving, praying, that it may be decided in your favor ; or are 
you putting it from you as if unworthy of a serious thought, and 
confining all your cares to the fleeting objects of sense and time ? 
O my friends, if any thing can prove man an ahen from God 
and dead in sin, it is that insensibility to eternal things, which 
has so long found a place in some of your bosoms ; it is the 
neglect of the high concerns of the future world ; of the inter- 
9* 



96 SIN AND ITS WAGES. 

ests of your immortal souls. Palliate, excuse this as you may, 
it is condemned alike by reason, by conscience and the word of 
God, and persevered in, it must finally cut you off from the fa- 
vor of God and consign you to the world of despair. 

I can not close without beseeching you once more, with all the 
affection I bear to you as a friend, and with all the concern I 
feel for you as a pastor, to avoid such an unutterable calamity ; 
to avoid it by choosing the favor of God as the only adequate end 
of your being, and the salvation of Christ as the only way to 
attain that end. Look to the scenes of that eternity which lies 
before you, and into which you may pass at any moment ; con- 
sider the immortality of your nature, the endless career in 
knowledge, in holiness, in bliss that is presented to you, and 
with your eye fixed on the infinite, everlasting boon, that is of- 
fered as the object of your hope and of your final fruition, re- 
solve, by the grace of God, that from this time, you will make 
the attainment of it the great business of life. Would not your 
doing this be right ? Would you not approve of it in your dy- 
ing hour ? Would you not approve of it on the great day of 
account and during eternity ? May God incline you all to be 
wise to attend in this your day to the things of your peace, ere 
they be hid for ever from your eyes. 



SERMON IX. 

SIN AND ITS WAGES. 

Romans vi : 23. For the wages of sin is death. 

There is but one being in the universe who knows the evil 
of sin in its full extent. That being is God ; and on no sub- 
ject has he spoken more frequently or more solemnly than on 
this. Indeed sin and salvation from sin are the two great 



SIN AND ITS WAGES. 97 

themes of the bible, to the illustration and enforcement of 
which all its instructions and motives, promises and warnings 
are directly or indirectly made subservient. At the same time 
it is to be observed, that on no subject do the views of men 
differ more widely from the views of God than on this. In 
the estimation of most men sin is a trifle. They see very little 
in its nature and tendency to alarm their fears, and very little 
in the threatenings of the Bible to dissuade them from the 
practice of it, or make them solicitous to escape from its do-; 
minion and curse. But when we listen to the instructions of 
God's word, we learn that sin is a great evil, indeed the evil 
of all evils, and which, unrepented of and unpardoned, is sure 
to bring down upon the soul the most fearful woes. It was sin 
that expelled the fallen angels from the world of light and con- 
fined them in chains under darkness unto the judgment of the 
great day. It was sin that excluded our first parents from 
paradise, and brought the curse of God on this fair creation, 
with all the sufferings that fall on our race. It was sin that 
destroyed the old world with a deluge of water, and the cities 
of the plain with a storm of fire from heaven; that has over- 
spread the earth with crime, and woe ; that has given to the 
law its curse, to death its sting and to eternity its terrors, and 
which, if not restrained and controlled by the power and grace 
of God, would not stay its ruthless hand till it had rolled the 
volume of desolation through the empire of the Eternal and 
swept from the universe every vestige of vii'tue and of good. 
Indeed, nothing else is evil in the sight of God but sin. Other 
things, which we are wont to call evil, are so only as they tend 
to draw us into sin and bring us under its corrupting power 
and condemning curse. Against sin God has arrayed his 
righteous authority and awful threatnings, and while, in his 
great mercy, he has provided a way for our escape from its 
dominion and its misery, he has forewarned us, in his word, of 
its inevitable and fearful consequences to the soul in eter- 
nity. The wages of sin is death, — death not in the ordinary 
meaning of the term, as denoting the dissolution of the body, 
but death in a far more dreadful sense, the death of the soul, 
the destruction, not of the being, but of the well being, the 
dignity, order, purity and happiness of the immortal mind. 
This in the text, and in various other parts of the Bible, is. 
declared to be the wages of sin, the threatened punishment of 
evil doing. To illustrate and establish this truth is the object 
of the present discourse. 



98 SIN AND ITS "WAGES. 

1 . I observe then, in the first place, that the wages of sin is 
death, as it tends to perpetuate its existence in the soul. It 
appears to be a fact, under the government of God, that if 
intelligent moral beings once cast off their allegiance to him 
and become apostates, they will never return or be recovered 
to his image and favor except by a special interposition of 
mercy in their behalf. The first sin separates them from God 
and brings them under the law of a hopeless estrangement 
from him. A part of the angels kept not their first estate but 
rebelled against the Most High. The effect was perpetual sin, 
with no hope of recovery forever. So with man; he fell and 
by his fall lost the image and favor of God ; and but for the 
special mercy which interposed for his recovery, his case had 
been as hopeless as that of the fallen angels. Not an individ- 
ual of our race ever has, or ever will return to obedience 
and God by self-impulse, or the promptings of his own will. 
The whole tendency of sin in the heart is to form a fixedness 
of character in sin, and to bind over the soul to its dominion 
and curse forever. It may not be easy to explain how it is 
that sin, having once gained ascendency in the soul, operates 
to perpetuate its dominion there; or why it is that a moral 
being, having once departed from God, will always continue to 
depart from him, unless reclaimed by the Holy Spirit. But the 
fact seems unquestionable. There is that in sin which, when 
it gets possession of the mind, enslaves the will and prevents 
all effective desire to retrieve its lost position. There remains 
in the soul that is apostate from God and dead in sin, no princi- 
ple, in virtue of which it will return to spiritual life and obe- 
dience. It has broken the ties that bound it to God, the source 
and center of all holiness and blessedness ; and unless restored 
by his grace will wander eternally in the regions of darkness 
and guilt. It is as if one of the planets should break away 
from the center of attraction and rush from its orbit around 
the sun. By no law of nature would it ever regain its position 
in the system, but would forever travel off farther and farther 
from the source of light and heat and life, into the regions of 
endless night, and frost and death. 

2. The wages of sin is death, as it incapacitates and unfits 
the soul for the enjoyment of happiness and God. It is a viola- 
tion of the laws of our rational and moral nature. It arms the 
mind against itself, or against its true well-being and happiness. 
It destroys the balance of the affections, introduces disorder and 



SIN AND ITS WAGES. 99 

collision among the faculties of the soul, fills the bosom with 
the corrodings of guilt and operates, in its natural tendency, 
entirely to unfit its subject for a happy existence both in this 
and in the future world. 

It is true, that in the present life, amidst the numerous 
restrainincr and mitio-atinoj influences of this our state of merci- 
ful probation, sin does not always produce the results which 
have been specified. The sinner often finds much enjoyment 
in his sinful courses. In all the ordinary blessings of provi- 
dence he shares in common with him who loves and serves his 
Maker, and because judgment lingers and so much good is 
mingled in his cup, he is ready to imagine that there is no great 
evil in sin and he has nothing to fear from its results in a fu- 
ture state. 

But let no one deceive himself with the vain presumption 
that because sin does not now make him miserable, it never 
will. As well might a man, who has taken the virus of some 
deadly disease into his system, infer that it will never hurt him, 
because it does not now. Let him wait till the disease has had 
time to develop itself, and he is a dead man. Here the tenden- 
cies of sin are restrained; its natural effects cut short and its 
ultimate consequences thrown into the future and lie concealed 
in eternity. There is no evidence that the results of sin are in 
any case fully developed in this life. We see indeed that its 
effects are often extremely dreadful. "We see it bring disease 
and pain and death upon the body, and stupefaction and melan- 
choly and madness upon the mind. We see it destroy all the 
finer sensibilities of the soul, all the kindlier feelings of the 
heart. We see it banish purity and peace and every noble and 
generous sentiment from the mind, and fill the bosom with 
envy, hatred and every evil passion. We see it transform the 
man into a brute and a fiend, and drive him on to such a state 
of guilt and shame and remorse, -that existence becomes odious 
to him, and like the perfidious disciple, he puts an end to his 
life, rather than bear an anguish of spirit, the torment of which 
is felt to be intolerable. Such often are the effects of sin in 
the present life. But the effects do not stop here. They strike 
beyond the grave; and come up to meet the soul with unheard 
of terrors and woes on its entrance into eternity. There sin 
will have time and scope, as it has not here, fully to develop 
itself and work out its final results. All restraints will be 
taken off", and all hindrances removed, and the principle of evil 
in the mind left to act itself out, with no hand of mercy to 



100 SIN AND ITS WAGES. 

hold it in check or control its operation, it must inevitably 
incapacitate the soul for all enjoyment and render it completely 
and forever miserable. Here, in a thousand ways, sin is pre- 
vented from producing its full results. But even here, re- 
strained as it is by the providence and the grace of God, and 
existing as it does in connection with many counteracting influen- 
ces, how awful and overwhelming often are its eflfects upon the 
condition and happiness of the soul. What then must be the 
consequences which it will produce in the state beyond the 
grave, in the world of righteous retribution, where all restraints 
will be removed and all kindly affections cease, and where the 
results of human conduct will be fully developed and felt? 
There the principle of evil in every lost soul will become 
entirely predominant; it will be restrained by no sentiment 
of generosity or benevolence, and by no hope of sympathy or 
of good from any- being in the universe. All the present 
modes of the sinner's existence and sources of enjoyment will 
be changed, will be at an end; he will have no connection with 
earth or earthly happiness. He will be a disembodied spirit, of 
all but character bereft; a spiritual being in a spiritual world, 
surrounded by beings unholy, selfish, lost like himself; and 
there the elements of evil, of sin planted and nurtured in this 
state of probation, and passing with the soul into its place of 
abode in eternity, will become elements of universal misrule 
and misery and death. 

3. The wages of sin is death, as it necessarily excludes the 
soul from the presence and favor of God. He, the great Lord 
of all, is a Being of infinite holiness. Sin is directly opposed 
to his pure and perfect nature, and he can not look upon it but 
with eternal abhorrence. How then can a being who is polluted 
with this moral pestilence, a sinner, who in the temper of his 
mind is at variance with this all perfect God and with the laws 
of his moral kingdom ; how can such an one dwell in his pres- 
ence or be an object of his favor? It is plainly impossible. 
And yet to be banished from his presence and excluded from his 
favor, what is this but death, in its most fearful sense, death to a 
rational immortal soul? Fix your thoughts here, my friends. 
We are soon to pass out of this world and become inhabitants 
of another. There, we have reason to believe, we shall come 
into immediate contact with the infinite and eternal Being 
with whom we have to do. We shall be in circumstances 
which will force upon us a consciousness of the all surround- 



SIN AND ITS WAGES. 101 

ing presence of God, and render it inipossible to avert our 
attention for an instant from the infinite holiness and majesty 
of his character. We shall feel that we are every moment under 
the inspection of his all-seeing eye, and wherever we turn, we 
shall be met and confronted by the all pervading spirit of holi- 
ness and truth. Suppose now that you enter the future state 
with the character of sin upon you, with a heart averse to the 
Father of spirits and opposed to his law and government, — how 
impossible it is that you should be otherwise than miserable. 
Cut off as you would be from all the means that now minister 
to your enjoyment, and placed in a situation where you could 
not for an instant withdraw your gaze from the appalling 
brightness of God's glory, nor behold it but with an overwhelm- 
ing conviction of moral loathsomeness and guilt in the sight of 
the great Lord of the universe, you could not but hate exist- 
ence and desire annihilation as your only escape from misery. 
Here the sinner finds it not difficult to keep God out of his 
mind, and to shut his eyes to the deformity and odiousness of 
sin, as it exists apd reigns in his own heart and character. And 
though his temper and conduct are in direct hostility to the 
character and will of God, he is not alarmed at the fact; for 
amidst the pursuits and delusions of time, he rarely thinks of 
the great Being Avho made him, nor of the consequences of 
living and dying in estrangement from him. But death chan- 
ges the whole scene, breaks up the dreams of worldliness and 
self-flattery, and brings the soul into a state where God must 
be seen in all his holiness and glory; and where the principles 
of his government will come home with irresistible force to the 
heart and conscience, and where an intelligent being, with op- 
posite views and feelings, will, at every moment, feel himself 
thwarted and borne down by the direct, overwhelming encoun- 
ter of the all pervading and almighty mind. In such a situa- 
tion happiness will be impossible. Misery and wo must be the 
sad inheritance of the soul. At variance with God and the 
principles of his empire, it can have no place among the holy 
and happy subjects of his kingdom, but must go out a misera- 
ble exile from his presence to dwell forever with beings like 
himself in feelings and character; hateful and hating one 
another. 

4. The wages of sin is death as it subjects the soul to the 
penalty of God's law which is death, eternal death. Hitherto 
I have spoken of the natural consequences of sin ; of the ef- 



102 SIN AND ITS WAGES. 

fects which, unrestrained, it is sure to bring upon the soul, aside 
from the direct infliction of punishment by him who is the 
moral governor of the world. I have pointed you to its ten- 
dency to perpetuate its existence in the bosom ; to its power 
to incapacitate and unfit the soul for the enjoyment of happi- 
ness, and disqualify it entirely and forever for the presence and 
favor of God, by stamping upon it a character of estrangement 
and opposition to him. These are the natural results of sin; 
results not indeed fully developed in this life, but which fixed 
in the disposition and habits of the sinful soul, will pass with 
it to its dwelling place in eternity and there be disclosed in all 
the dreadfulness of unrestrained depravity and hopeless alien- 
ation from God. Hence the Bible speaks of the wicked as 
eating the fruit of their own ways and being filled with their 
own devices; that is, the influence, the effects of their evil 
deeds follow them into the place of punishment and there, in 
the way of natural consequence bring upon them misery and 
despair. 

But this is not all that the Bible teaches in respect to the 
punishment of the wicked. It teaches us that God himself 
will execute judgment upon them, that he has prepared for 
them a place of punishment and instruments of punishment, 
even the dark prison of hell with its terrible agents for inflict- 
ing suffering, and that there the wicked are all to be gathered 
together and to have executed upon them the full penalty of 
his law, the awful threatenings of his word. The language in 
which these threatenings are expressed is of the most fearful 
character. It is the worm that never dies^ the fire that is 
never quenched; it is being punished with everlasting destruc- 
tion from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power; 
it is going away into everlasting punishment, drinking of the 
wrath of God, being cast into the lake of fire and tormented 
there with the devil and his angels, which is the second death. 
I do not stop to inquire into the precise meaning of this lan- 
guage. Figurative it doubtless is; but why figurative, except 
that we might take from it a more vivid and affecting impress- 
ion of the terribleness of the punishment which awaits the 
wicked in another world? We speak in figures only when 
literal language is inadequate to express our full meaning. 
And this, no doubt, is the reason why the Holy Spirit has em- 
ployed such appalling images to set forth the miseries of sin. 
It is to give us a truer and more affecting conception of those 



SIN AND ITS WAGES. 103 

miseries than could be conveyed by common language, or such 
as is divested of figure. To suppose with some that the ima- 
ges used in the Bible to express the punishment of the wicked, 
the final wages of sin, mean nothing, or that their meaning is 
exhausted in the evils attendant upon the present life, indicates 
a strange perversenesss of mind, and a desperate determination 
not to believe or regard what Go'd has said on this most sol- 
emn of all subjects. No man who looks at facts, or looks into 
the Bible with an unprejudiced mind, can avoid the conviction 
that beyond the grave there, is a state of righteous retribution, 
and there the sinner, unreclaimed and unpardoned in this life,, 
is to receive the wages of sin which is death ; death in an 
abandonment to the dominion and misery of sin; death in a 
total unfitness for the presence of God and the society of holy 
beings; death in short, in the extinction of all spiritual life in 
the soul and consignment to all the evils of eternal estrange- 
ment from God, and endurance of the curse of his law, which 
is death; the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 

In conclusion, I offer three remarks suggested by the subject.. 

1. The soul that enters eternity upreconciled to God is lost 
for ever. I do not adduce here the many passages of Scripture 
which establish the truth of this sentiment. I wish you to view 
it in the light of the subject we have been contemplating, and 
tell me what hope there is that a sinner, passing from this state 
of probation and mercy into eternity unreconciled to God and 
under the dominion of sin, will ever be recovered to the image 
and favor of his Maker. Here there is hope in his case. He 
is under a dispensation of mercy. The Bible, the Sabbath, and 
the sanctuary ; Christian friends and ministers; the providence,, 
grace and spirit of God — all unite their influence to instruct 
and warn him of his danger, and draw him to holiness and, 
heaven. But in multitudes of cases these means are wholly in- 
effectual. The sinner resists their combined influence, and con- 
tinues a despiser of God and a neglecter of salvation till we 
lose sight of him in the grave. He dies in his sins, and passes 
into the unseen world with the temper and character of sin, 
upon him. Point me now to the slightest ground of hope that 
this lost being will ever be saved. I ask not for conjecture or 
presumption, but for evidence that can satisfy a sober, reflecting 
man, and furnish a just ground of confidence in regard to the 
destiny of this soul. This is not a subject on which a wise 
man will indulge conjectures and presumptions if it is possible 
10 



104 * SIN AND ITS WAGES. 

to obtain clear and definite information. Now we say the Bible 
is silent respecting the recovery to holiness of those who die in 
their sins. I know not of a single passage in the whole book 
of God which speaks of such a recovery, or gives the least in- 
timation that sinners will in another world continue to enjoy 
the day and means of grace, or that God will there pour out his 
spirit, exert his power and bring them to repentance and salva- 
tion. I have read the Bible in vain if it says one word in favor 
of a sentiment like this. On the contrary, it uniformly repre- 
sents the present as the only state of probation ; that the means 
of grace and day of salvation cease at death, and the last lesson 
it teaches us respecting the sinner who dies in his sins, is that he 
is lost, abandoned of God and left to the natural and penal conse- 
quences of his iniquities. Whence then do you gather hope of 
his recovery? There is not only no evidence that a sinner dy- 
ing in his sins will finally be restored to holiness and God, but 
all the evidence there is goes to set aside such a sentiment as a 
vain presumption, and to confirm the decision of the Bible that 
the soul entering eternity in its sins is lost for ever. It is in 
vain to speak here of the reforming influence of suffering, as if 
the punishment of hell would avail to purify the soul from sin, 
inspire it with the love of God and fit it to dwell in his presence 
in heaven. Such has not been the effect on the fallen angels; 
nor is there any reason to believe that such will be the effect on 
fallen men when they have passed from this state of mercy and 
are fixed in the world of retribution and wo. If the sicknesses, 
sorrows and sufferings that fall upon the wicked in this life, if 
the commands and invitations of God and the threatenings of 
endless wo, if the offer of mercy, the love and compassion of the 
Saviour and all the prayers and efforts of good men fail to turn 
the sinner from the evil of his ways to the love and service of his 
Redeemer and King, what hope is there of his recovery when 
he shall be deprived of all these softening means and mercies, 
and shall go an exile and an outcast into a world of lost spirits, 
to sojourn in the society of perfectly unholy and selfish beings 
like himself? The Holy Spirit, in his renewing and recovering 
influence, comes not there; angels and ministers of grace come 
not, salvation of Christ comes not, and no restraining providence 
of God or agency of good beings ever interpose to hold the bal- 
ance against evil or to overawe and subdue it. Every one is 
there left to the unrestrained dominion of sin and to the endur- 
ance of its natural and penal effects on the soul. How then can 



SIN AND ITS WAGES. 105 

it be otherwise than that sin should reign there for ever, and for 
ever be visited vrith its appropriate wages, which is death. 

2. The present condition of sinners is far more alarming than 
they are wont to believe. The word- and the providence of 
God speak in such loud and monitory tpnes on this point, that 
the most careless of the impenitent are sometimes made thought- 
ful, and are constrained to feel that all is not safe in respect to 
their immortal interests. But of the nature and extent of their 
danger they have no adequate conception. What is it which 
renders their situation so critical and alarming? It is not that 
they are created for eternity, and have entered upon an exist- 
ence under the government of God which is never to end ; it is 
not that they are entrusted each one with the care of a soul 
worth more than the whole world, and which must be happy or 
miserable for ever, according to the character formed in this state 
of probation ; it is not that they must soon die and go to appear 
before the infinite Searcher of hearts, and by him be adjudged 
to everlasting life or everlasting death. All this, enough, one 
would think, to inspire every mind with serious concern, both 
with respect to the present and the future, comes far short of 
describing the most alarming feature in the condition of impen- 
itent men. It is that sin has planted itself so deep in their 
hearts that no human means can eradicate it ; it is that a moral 
disease has seized upon them which no human skill can cure, 
and which is slowly but certainly working the death of the soul; 
it is that they have entered upon a course of departure from 
God, the source of all blessedness and all good, which, left to 
themselves, they will never retrace, but wander on, further and 
further, till they stumble and fall, and perish in endless darkness 
and despair. This is by far the most alarming circumstance 
in the sinner's condition ; and could he but be made to realize 
it just as it is, he would at once lose all peace of mind, and cry 
for help with the earnestness of a dying man, to him who alone 
can save from the power and the curse of this so tremendous 
an evil. And why should he not realize it? There is no want 
of evidence in the case. Let any impenitent sinner in this as- 
sembly look within and he will discover the workings of a prin- 
ciple which disposes him to forsake God and never return to 
him, and which carrying it over conscience and reason and all 
the multiplied means that have been used to bring him back, 
has hitherto kept him away from God and duty, pursuing the 
broad road to death. And what reason has any such sinner to 



106 SIN AND ITS WAGES. 

expect that it will not do the same in years to come, as in years 
past, till he die, and then perpetuate its dominion and his doom 
during eternity. 0! the terrible evil of sin; its awful power to 
blind, deceive and destroy. And dream not, fellow-man, that 
you shall escape the final results of sin, if it have dominion over 
you. Your own existence is not more certain than the results 
of sin, if unrepented of and unforsaken. They may be de- 
layed for a time to give you opportunity^to repent and be saved. 
But they will meet you in the end and travel on with you during 
the endless ages of your future being. We are amazed that 
any should be blind to the solemn mementos of coming judgment, 
or take up with so ruinous a self-flattery as that sin indulged 
here will not bring death upon the soul hereafter. Guilty man 
carries the elements of his own perdition within him, and it 
matters little whether he be in solitude or in society, in this 
world or the next; the seeds of death are in him, and are sure 
in the final issue to bring upon him the terrible fruits of es- 
trangement from God and rebellion against the laws of his em- 
pire, in the gna wings of the woim that never dies and the tor- 
ments of the fire that is never quenched. 

3. How precious is that grace which can avail to do away 
the effects of sin and raise the soul fallen under its deadly 
power to God and life again. Let me bring this grace to your 
notice, my friends, and press it on your acceptance. It is 
brought to view by the Apostle in close connection with our 
text. The wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal 
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the great theme of 
his Epistle tb the Romans is to set forth the fact that universal 
and dreadful as are the evils of sin, the gospel of the grace of 
God provides a remedy for them, free, full, adapted to meet the 
deepest wants of the soul and abounding to the chief of sinners. 
This fact stands out prominent in all the pages of the gospel, 
and throws a cheering light over the otherwise hopeless condi- 
tion of man. It tells him that sinner as he is, there is hope in 
his case. It tells him that he may be saved from the dominion ' 
and the curse of sin, restored to the favor of God and made an 
heir of glory. It tells him that help is laid upon one who is 
mighty to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through 
him; and on this ground a full salvation is offered to every 
needy lost sinner living within the sound of the gospel. Fix 
your thoughts here for a moment. The dreadful nature of sin 
working death in the soul and binding it over to perdition has 



SIN AND ITS WAGES. 107 

been imperfectly set before you. It is an evil, the greatest and 
most formidable, of which we can form any conception; an evil 
too which reigns in not a few of my hearers, and is hastening 
them on to meet in eternity its final results in the pains of the 
second death. These results, as we have seen, are not limited 
to the present life ; they go beyond the tomb, and will meet you 
on your entrance into eternity in all the agonies of that death 
which is the wages of sin. Disbelieve it, disregard it, forget it 
you may, but that will not alter the fact. The wages of sin is 
death; its due retribution in eternity, and the connection be- 
tween the two can never be broken but by the grace that is of- 
fered you in the gospel. Help can come from no other source, 
nor from this, except during the short uncertain space of time 
allotted you on earth. Take hold of this help then without de- 
lay. Shake off the sloth and the worldliness that make you 
unmindful of the scenes before you; and convinced of the evil 
and the danger of sin, come to the fulness of grace in Christ 
Jesus ; cast yourself on his mercy, invoking the aids of the Holy 
Spirit, and you shall be delivered both from the power and the 
curse of sin, and justified by faith you shall have peace with 
God, and rejoice in hope of his glory. And when the day of 
the revelation of God's righteous judgment shall come and pour 
its amazing light upon the eyes of all, both the quick and the 
dead, you shall be of those who have part in the first resurrec- 
tion, and 07er whom the second death hath no power. But let 
it be repeated, here lies the only remedy. This neglected, sin 
will maintain its dominion in the soul, and death, eternal death, 
mast inevitably follow as its threatened and deserved punish- 
ment. Wherefore, put away presumption and indifference, and 
prepare for the coming of the great day of the Lord; for that 
day will come, and who then shall be able to stand? 



10* 



SERMON X. 



CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY TO A JUST SENSE OF 
god's grace in SALVATION. 

Luke v: 31, 32. The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: 
1 came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

Nothing is plainer than that persons in the enjoyment of 
health have no need of a physician. It is equally plain, that 
those, who do not know that they are sick, can not feel their 
need of a physician and will not ask the assistance of one. 
There are two classes of persons then, of whom the saying in 
our text, in its literal sense, is true ; those who are really whole, 
and those who imagine themselves to be so. But this is not 
the sense in which the Saviour meant the text to be under- 
stood. His thoughts were on other and weightier matters. 
He had in view the spiritual state of man; and in saying, 
they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are 
sick, he designs to teach us the all important lesson that his 
work, as a Saviour, has reference to men as morally diseased, 
as lost in sin ; and if this were not the fact, they would have no 
need of his interposition and could derive no benefit from it. 
He meant also to intimate that before any would apply to him 
for help, as the great Physician of souls, they must be sensible 
that they are morally diseased, and in perishing need of the 
remedies of his grace. It is to this last thought I wish to 
direct your attention in the present discourse. It may be thus 
stated — While men feel themselve to be spiritually whole, 
they will not apply to the Saviour for the help which he is 
ready to afford them. 

It will not be pretended, I presume, by any whom I now 
address, that any of our race are, in the sense of our text, 
absolutely whole. There is no more evidence that the race 
of man is subject to sickness and death, than there is that 
it is subject to sin and guilt. Dead in trespasses and sins, 



CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY ETC. 109' 

is a description not of the men of any one age or nation, but 
of all men, in all ages and among all nations. There is 
none righteous, no, not one, till grace renews the heart and 
restores* spiritual health to the soul. But though all men 
are spiritually diseased, all men are not sensible of the fact. 
There is a generation, we are told, who are pure in their own 
eyes, though not washed from their filthiness, and facts testify 
that it is a very numerous generation. It is surely no difficult 
thing to find men, in countless multitudes, who though sin sick 
and ready to die, still flatter themselves that they are whole, 
and vainly imagine that they have no need of the healing influ- 
ence of divine grace. We sometimes see persons under a 
burning fever fancying themselves to be perfectly well. The 
same is true of maniacs and of those who are wasting away 
under the secret, but fatal influence of consumption. Such 
persons, having no sense of their true situation, are wont to 
regard all that is done for their recovery as needless, and could 
they have their own way, no counsel of a physician would be 
asked, and no prescriptions of his be followed. So it is in re- 
gard to those who are spiritually diseased. In multitudes of 
cases, they are entirely insensible of the malady tliat is prey- 
ino- upon them and hastening to its fatal issue in the death of 
the soul. And so long as they entertain this opinion of them- 
selves, or remain insensible to their real condition as perishing 
in sin, it is plain that they can not feel their need of the remedy 
provided for them in the gospel, and will not apply to the divine 
Physician for the healing of their souls, or their recovery to 
spiritual health. Let us illustrate this point in a few particu- 
lars. And, 

1. I remark, — those who feel themselves to be whole, in the 
sense of our text, can have no sincerity, or earnestness in using 
the means of spiritual recovery. A man who is in doubt 
whether he is sick or well, will of course hesitate whether he 
shall ask advice of a physician, and after having asked it, he 
will show the same indecision and hesitancy in regard to taking 
the medicine prescribed by him. It is only when a man is 
fully convinced that disease is actually upon him, and that his 
life is in danger, that he will be in earnest to seek medical aid, 
and ready to commit himself to the treatment of the physician 
and to follow implicitly his directions. Just so it is in spiritual 
matters. So long as you imagine yourself to be whole, or 
cherish the belief that you are but slightly diseased, you will 



110 CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY TO A 

be indifferent and sluggish in using the means which are neces- 
sary to restore you to spiritual health. 

These means are most abundant and efficacious. They are 
provided by the great Physician of souls, are placed within 
your reach and are perfectly adapted to every case of moral 
disease and suffering, with which any of the children of men 
are or can be affected. But you do not feel yourself to be dis- 
eased, or if diseased at all, you think you are so slightly so, 
that there is no need of alarm. The consequence is that the 
remedies provided for and offered you in the gospel are despised 
and neglected. They are not sought after, are not valued, are 
not used with any thing of that earnestness and diligence which 
is necessary to their becoming effectual in your salvation. And 
so it will be just as long as you imagine that you are whole, or 
have no proper sense of your lost estate as a sinner. It is only 
when you are convinced that a moral disease is upon you of 
the most alarming and fatal character; it is only when you feel 
yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, and in danger of 
perishing forever, that you will apply, in earnest, for help to 
him who alone can recover you from your lost condition and 
save you from the death which is eternal. Not till then will 
you feel your need of divine aid or seek it in the earnest and 
perservering use of the means which are appointed' to recover 
the soul from the guilt and the misery of sin. 

2. While a man feels himself to be whole he can of course 
have no true conviction of sin. What is conviction of sin ? 
It is a painful sense of violated obligation, connected with 
an apprehension of deserved punishment on account of it. 
Now this is a state of mind which must precede repentance 
and is essential to it. But how can a man be thus convicted, 
or have this state of mind, while he flatters himself that he is 
whole, or is spiritually rich and in need of nothing? It is 
plainly impossible. The favorable opinion he entertains of 
himself necessarily excludes all just sense of ill-desert and 
guilt, and while it remains, renders all the means of awakening 
and conviction utterly impotent and useless. Suppose yourself 
to be one of that class of persons whom the Saviour describes 
as righteous in their own eyes. You of course have your 
standard of duty ; you are conformed to it, as you suppose, in 
the general tenor of your life, and though conscious of occa- 
sional deviations from the rule of right, you are, on the whole, 
well satisfied with yourself and see no reason to apprehend the 



JUST SENSE OF GOd's GRACE IN SALVATION. Ill 

displeasure of God against you as a lost sinner. How is it 
possible now that in this state, you should ever be convicted or 
come to a just knowledge of your sins and of your desert of 
punishment on account of them? With your present views of 
yourself how can you ever have anything of the humiliation 
and contrition of spirit which constitute true repentance, or 
that godly sorrow for sin which the Bible assures us is essential 
to your being pardoned and accepted of God ? The fancied 
purity of your heart and guiltlessness of your life are a shield 
to your conscience against which the arrows of conviction are 
broken and fall powerless at your feet. And thus you will re- 
main year after year, unawakened and careless in your sins 
under the plainest and most faithful ministrations of God's 
truth, and never can you be moved out of your position of false 
security, till renouncing your own standard of duty, you bring 
yourself to the test of God's law, — that law which is holy and 
just and good, which requires truth in the inward parts, and 
which coming home to the conscience, destroyed the self-right- 
eous hopes of Paul and made him feel that he was indeed dead 
in sin and exposed to the just displeasure of God. By this 
law is the knowledge of sin, and whoever neglects to try his 
heart and life by this infaUible rule, will of course be ignorant 
of his true state and character, and is likely to dream away his 
probationary existence under the fatal delusion that he is 
l^^hole, when in fact there is no soundness in him, but he is 
dying of a moral disease which admits of no cure but at the 
hand of the great Physician of souls. This leads me to re- 
mark — 

3. While a man imagines himself to be whole, he can not 
feel his need of mercy, and of course can not ask for nor receive 
it as it is offered him in the gospel. Mercy is a word of grate- 
ful import, and every one is ready to think that he really desires 
mercy and is willing to accept it. But a moment's reflection 
must convince us that before a man can desire or accept of this 
most needed of Heaven's gifts, he must possess a state of mind 
by no means common in this fallen and rebellious world. What 
is mercy? It is favor shown to the guilty and ill-deserving; 
and the mercy of the gospel is favor exercised towards those 
who are condemned by the law of God, and justly exposed to 
its righteous penalty. How then can a man accept of mercy, 
or in the least feel his need of it, till he is convinced of his guilt 
and misery as a sinner? The very idea of accepting of mercy 



112 COXVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY TO A 

pre-supposes a sense of unworthiness and of exposure to the in- 
flictions of divine justice, in him who accepts it — such a sense 
as causes him to justify God and condemn himself; as makes 
him willing to take his place at the foot of the cross and there, 
in the spirit of the penitent publican, to offer the prayer — God 
be merciful unto me a sinner. Suppose a man under sentence 
of death to have a pardon offered him on condition that he pen- 
itently confess his C2'ime and justify the law that condemned him. 
Could he accept that pardon, could he ask for or feel his need of 
it in the manner required, while he claimed to be innocent, or jus- 
tified the deed and condemned the law? No more can the sin- 
ner accept of pardoning mercy as offered him in the gospel, 
while he thinks himself whole, or has but a slight, superficial 
sense of the evil of sin and of his desert of punishment on ac- 
count of it. He might indeed be glad if God would not inflict 
on him an unjust or an undeserved punishment; but he could 
not regard the withholding of punishment as an act of mercy 
shown to one who deserved to die. It is impos.sible, in the very 
nature of things, for a sinner really to feel his need of the mercy 
of God and humbly to ask this favor to be extended to him in 
pardoning his sins and saving him from the wrath to come, so 
long as he flatters himself that he is not a lost sinner, or does 
not approve of the justice of God in his condemnation. 

4. While a man feels himself to be whole, he can not receive 
Christ as his Saviour, nor acceptably apply to him for any one 
blessing of his mediation. What is it to receive Christ as a 
Saviour? I answer, it is first of all to feel your need of his in- 
terposition to save you from sin and its consequences ; it is, un- 
der a humble and penitent sense of guilt and misery as a trans- 
gressor of God's law, to come to Christ for pardon and life, and 
renouncing every claim of merit, to rely upon his atoning blood 
as the only ground of justification and acceptance with God. 
How then can you receive Christ as your Saviour, if you have 
never been convinced that you are a needy, helpless sinner, 
justly condemned by the law you have transgressed, and exposed 
to perish for ever? Or how can you, while in an unhumbled, 
self-righteous state of mind, apply to the Lord Jesus Christ for 
any one blessing he has procured for you by his death, when in 
the very act of applying for it it is implied that you feel your 
unworthiness to approach God in your own name, and can ex- 
pect favor at his hand only in the name and for the sake of 
Christ the Mediator? The Son of Man came to seek and to 



JUST SENSE OF GOD's GRACE IN SALVATION. 113 

save that which was lost. But you do not feel yourself to be 
lost. How then can you expect Christ to save you? What 
has the proud Pharisee, or the self-righteous moralist, or the 
careless worldling to do with Christ as a Saviour? What 
sense have they of their spiritual wants, or what one feeling 
exists in their bosom to draw them to Christ or engage them to 
receive him as he is offered in the gospel? Christ is a physician. 
To receive him in this character you must feel that you are 
spiritually diseased. Christ is a refuge. To receive him in this 
character you must feel that you are in danger. Christ is a 
Redeemer. To receive him in this character you must feel that 
you are in bondage — the bondage of sin and death. Christ is 
a Saviour from the guilt and condemnation of sin. To receive 
him in this character you must feel the evil of sin and your just 
liability to fall under the condemning sentence of the divine law. 
Thus it is, in whatever light you view the character and work 
of Christ, it is plain you can not receive him as your Saviour, 
till your self-righteous hopes are slain, and you are made sensi- 
ble of your necessities as a lost sinner. I add — 

5. That while a man imagines himself to be whole he can 
have no real, abiding gratitude for redeming mercy, even should 
he flatter himself that he has embraced Christ as his Saviour. 
The sincerity and fervor of our gratitude in any given case de- 
pend upon the sense we have of the greatness of the favor be- 
stowed, and of our unworthiness to receive it. No man is 
grateful for a favor which he does not value, or does not feel 
his need of, or to which he thinks himself justly entitled. A 
proud man is never obliged, and a self-sufficient man is never 
thankful. Apply this to the case under consideration. Sup- 
pose that without any just sense of your poverty and guilt as a 
sinner, you take up with a belief that you have accepted Christ 
as a Saviour, that you are a Christian and an heir of salvation ; 
what gratitude will you feel for redeeming mercy, or what sense 
of obligation will you have for the love of God manifested in 
your redemption ? You may occasionally speak of Christ and 
his salvation, and think it very comely and proper to respect 
his name and his institutions. But it will all be in a formal, 
heartless manner. You will know nothing of the love of Christ 
which glowed in the bosom of Paul, nothing of the tender, 
grateful affection which he felt in view of the mercy and grace 
that pardons and saves rebellious men. His language of thank- 
fulness and praise for the grace that bringeth salvation will 



114 • CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY TO A 

seem to you strange and extravagant, and you will not be able 
to enter into its spirit and meaning, and that because you never 
felt, as he did, the evil of sin and your just desert of condemna- 
tion on account of it. It is only when the sinner has some just 
impression of the guilt and misery of his condition as a trans- 
gressor of God's law, that he will feel his indebtedness to Christ 
for redeeming mercy. It is only when he has seen the horrible 
pit and miry clay in which he was sinking, and has been made 
to realize that if mercy had not interposed to lift him up and 
set his feet upon a rock, he had perished there for ever — it is 
only then that his mouth will be filled with the new song, even 
praise unto the Lord, who has wrought so great deliverance, 
and he will feel that his life and his all are but a poor return 
for the grace that has so abounded in his salvation from -death 
and hell. 

In conclusion I am led to remark— r , 

1. We see in view of our subject who they are that are in 
the greatest danger of being lost. They are such as have the 
least sense of their sins, and least realize their need of Christ; 
such as disbelieve and reject the doctrine of human depravity, 
and the necessity of being born of the spirit, and who flatter 
themselves that, if they respect religion and lead a correct 
moral life, they do well enough, and have nothing to fear in re- 
spect to their standing with God and their condition in another 
world. This is the class of persons who in their own estimation 
are whole, and of all persons on earth they are most likely to 
fail of salvation, and finally be lost. The practical effect of the 
views they entertain of themselves is to prevent all due sense 
of their sins, and need of pardoning mercy, and as a consequence, 
all effective efforts to enter in at the strait gate and obtain eter- 
nal life. Permit me to ask, is there a person present belonging 
to the class just described who is doing any thing in good earnest 
to secure salvation, or who is at all disposed to come before his 
Maker and Judge and offer the petition of the publican — God 
be merciful to me a sinner? And now if any are finally lost, 
who so likely as those who feel no need of being in earnest to 
lay hold on eternal life as offered them in the gospel; who so 
likely as those that have no conviction of sin, no sense of 
their need of mercy and no desire to seek for and obtain it in 
the only way in which it is offered — in the way of repentance 
and faith in the Redeemer? Try yourselves then, my friends, 



JUST SENSE OF GOd's GRACE IN SALVATION. 115 

by this test. Ask whether you are of the number of those 
who think themselves whole, whether you have any proper 
sense of the spiritual malady that cleaves to you, and of your 
need of the interposition of the Physician of souls to restore 
you to spiritual health. Decide this point, and you will decide, 
in no doubtful manner, how much reason you have to expect to 
be saved from the miseries of sin and inherit eternal life. 

2. We see the necessity of preaching the law. By the law is 
the knowledge of sin. It is therefore just as important that the 
law should be distinctly and fully preached, both in precept and 
penalty, as it is that men should have a knowledge of their sins, 
and this is just as important as it is that they should come to 
repentance and be saved. It is common, as you know, to com- 
plain of the preaching which explains and applies the law of 
God, and aims to make sinners acquainted with their true state 
and character as lost and condemned in the sight of the great 
Lord and Judge of all. It is said that it presents religion in a 
gloomy, forbidding form, and that it is far more profitable to in- 
sist on milder and more attractive topics, especially on the invi- 
tations and promises of the gospel. But of what use would this 
be so long as hearers are ignorant of their sins and have no just 
sense of their spiritual wants ? Of what use is it to offer med- 
icine to a man who is not sick, or food to a man who is not hun- 
gry, or safety to a man who is not in danger? Of no more use 
can it be to speak of the love of Christ or of the invitations 
and promises of the gospel to those who are not convinced of 
sin, and have no just sense of their need of Christ. To such 
persons the gospel, in its appropriate character as a system of 
mercy for the guilty and the lost, is without meaning and with- 
out power. They may indeed be gratified and soothed to have 
its invitations of love and kindness spread before them, ai?d 
while its warnings and threatenings are kept out of view, they 
may sit year after year under its ministrations, and flatter them- 
selves, all the while, with a delusive hope that all is safe and 
well with them for eternity. But what is such a hope based 
upon but error and self-deception? They have never seen their 
own hearts ; have never felt their need of Cheist as one sent to- 
seek and to save the lost, and consequently have never repented, 
nor embraced the Saviour in his true character, nor accepted of 
mercy in that humble, grateful and contrite spirit which is nec- 
essary in order to its being available to their pardon and salva- 

11 



116 CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY TO A 

tion. Just here it is that multitudes deceive themselves to their 
eternal ruin. They are satisfied and pleased with the gospel in 
a general way ; but the law has never cora'e home to convince 
them of sin; they have never felt themselves to be guilty and 
lost in the sight of God; have never justified him in their con- 
demnation, nor accepted of mercy as a favor bestowed on those 
who deserved to die. Many such persons are to be found in 
all our congregations, and nothing can awaken them to a due 
sense of their sin and danger but the law of God plainly pre- 
sented in its holy demands and righteous penalty, and in this 
character pressed home on the heart and conscience. 

3. We see why there is so little of deep, and fruitful religion 
in many who profess to be Christians. They are wanting in a 
deep and abiding sense of the great evil of sin, and of their 
infinite indebtedness to the mercy of God in Christ in deliver- 
ing them from the wrath to come. This is the reason why 
their humility is no more profound; why their repentance is no 
more thorough and abiding; why their faith is no more affec- 
tionate and grateful; why their love is no more fervent and 
devoted; why their esteem of Christ is no more corresponding 
with his glory and excellence; why their conversation is no 
more frequently turned on the salvation he died to purchase 
for them, and why so little fruit is brought forth in their lives 
to the glory of their Redeemer and King. To what else, my 
brethren, is all this owing, but to the want of a deep experi- 
mental sense of the guilt and misery of man's estate as a sin- 
ner, and of the greatness and glory of that grace which 
redeems him from death and hell and makes him an heir of 
heaven? With a just and abiding impression of your un wor- 
thiness and sinfulness, and of the greatness of the salvation 
purchased for you by the blood of Christ, would you not be 
penitent and humble, would you not cleave to the Saviour with 
grateful and devoted affection ; would you not love much, con- 
scious that much had been forgiven you, and carry with you 
the feeling, habitually, that you never could do enough for him, 
your Saviour, who has done so much for you ? Cowper relates 
that for months after his conversion he could not speak nor 
hear the name of Jesus without weeping. The very mention 
of this precious name would at once melt him into tenderness 
and tears. And how was it with the Apostle Paul? His 
love to the Saviour was a pure, living flame, warming all the 



JUST SENSE OF GOD'S GRACE IN SALVATION. 117 

affections and energies of his soul into spiritual activity ; and 
while he remembered how he was once a blasphemer and a 
persecutor, and called to mind the mercy which had interposed 
to save him the chief of sinners, he felt that he could never do 
enough to testify his grateful sense of the love manifested in 
his redemption, and he hasted from city to city and from land 
to land, proclaiming with ever growing love and zeal, the gos- 
pel of the grace of God to his dying fellow-men. And if you 
look into .the history of those worthies whose names are recor- 
ded in the Bible as eminent for holiness, or read over the lives 
of such men as Bunyan, and Baxter, and Howe, and Newton, 
and Fuller, and Brainard, and Henry Martyn, and Edwards, 
and Payson, you will find that they were not more distinguished 
for their piety and usefulness in the church, than they were for 
a deep acquaintance with the native sinfulness of their own 
hearts, and an abiding sense of their personal unworthiness of 
the least of God's mercies. Learn then, my Christian friends, 
what is necessary to render your religion deep, permanent and 
fruitful. It will always be superficial, inconstant and barren, 
so long as you have a slight sense of sin and of your indebted- 
ness to the Saviour for redeeming mercy. If you would grow 
in humility, penitence, faith and love and be fruitful in holy 
living, often look to the rock whence ye were hewed, and to 
the hole of the pit whence you were digged; bring yourselves 
to the standard of God's law, and there learn your innumera- 
ble deficiencies and sins, and the riches of that grace which 
you hope has canceled your debt of guilt and sealed you heirs 
of heaven. 

4. We see why it is so difficult to persuade impenitent men 
to accept the salvation of 4he gospel. It is not because they 
do not desire to be delivered from the punishment denounced 
against sin. It is not because they do not desire to enjoy the 
happiness promised to the friends of God. But it is because 
ihey do not feel their need of such a salvation as is provided 
for them in the gospel of the grace of God, and are not willing 
to submit to the terms on which it is offered them. That is a 
salvation from sin, provided for those who feel that they are lost, 
and the condition on which alone it can be accepted and its 
blessings secured to the soul, is a humble penitent confession of 
guilt and unworthiness and a willingness to bow at the foot of 
the cross, and there ask for and receive mercy as a favor be- 



118 CONVICTION OF SIN NECESSARY, ETC. 

stowed upon one who deserves to be cast off from God forever. 
But sinners are not willing to do this. They are not willing to 
see and confess that a moral disease is upon them of the most 
fatal character, and under a conviction of its being utterly in- 
curable by mere human means, to apply directly and earnestly 
to the great Physician for healing. They are not willing to 
give up all their excuses, to renounce all their sins, and to 
commit themselves in faith and love and holy obedience to him 
who died to save them. Let the appeal be made to those 
whom I now address. Is there a sinner present who "has such 
a knowledge of his sins and such a sense of his perishing need 
of mercy, that he is willing to confess himself to be without ex- 
cuse, to humble himself before God, and to accept of salvation 
just as it is offered him in the gopel? This is a trying 
point, my friends, and if you will deal honestly with yourselves 
on this point, you may discover what you now perhaps but little 
suspect, that notwithstanding all your professed respect for 
religion and outward attendance on the means of grace, you 
are in fact unwilling to be saved in the way and on the terms 
on which Christ now offers to save you. And should you make 
this discovery, one of two things will follow, — you will either 
resist the discovery and shut your eyes against it, or else you 
will at once be convinced of your sin and danger, and cry for 
mercy so that mercy shall be shown you. It is remarked by Dr. 
Payson that he never knew a sinner go back who was once con- 
vinced that all the difficulties which opposed his salvation lay 
in his own heart; that Christ was willing to save him, but he 
was not willing to be saved in his way and was therefore with- 
out excuse. Make the trial my friends. Let the law of God 
come home in all its light and power; try yourselves by that 
perfect standard, and if you have a?iy doubts whether you need 
mercy and must have mercy or perish forever, they will quick- 
ly vanish, and you will feel as did Paul when the command- 
ment came to him testing and trying his heart and life, — sin 
revived and he died. To discover that you are sick unto death, 
that you are poor and guilty and helpless, a sinner already con- 
demned and in danger of eternal condemnation, may and will 
alarm and distress you. But the discovery must be made here 
or in eternity, and the advantage of making it here and now, is, 
that your case is not yet hopeless ; there is balm in Gilead and 
a Physician there to whom you may apply with the certainty 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OP REGENERATION. 119 

of finding the lielp you need. The divine Saviour is waiting 
to be gracious ; bidding you welcome to the blessings of his 
mediation, and has pledged his truth that whosoever cometh 
unto him shall in no wise be cast out. Come then to Christ; 
come in all your wants and he will supply them ; come weak 
and he will strengthen you ; come sick and he will restore you 
to perfect health; dying and he will make you live and live 
forever. But turn away in the vain imagination that you need 
not these blessings; that you are whole and well, and your 
poverty and misery will remain ; the disease of sin that cleaves 
to you and dwells in you, will increase in virulence, and incur- 
ableness, and though perhaps unperceived and unfelt by you, 
it will finally hasten you on to death, even the death of the 
soul; its eternal exclusion from the presence and kingdom of 
God. 



SERMON XI. 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 

John iii: 3. Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be bom again he 
can not see the kingdom of God. 

It will be my object in this discourse to present as clear and 
definite a view, as I can, of the Christian doctrine of regener- 
ation. It will readily be admitted by those whom I address, 
that the doctrine is one of supreme importance. As stated by 
our Saviour in the Scripture just read, it plainly lies at the 
foundation of our immortal hopes. The language used is of 
the most comprehensive character. It includes our whole race ; 
extends to every son and ds^ughter of Adam. The change indi- 
cated, as will appear, in the progress of our remarks, is a great 

11* 



120 NATURE AND NECESSITY OP REGENERATION. 

change; is an internal, spiritual change, and indispensable as 
a qualification for our entrance into heaven. The subject 
then brought before us in the text is, in every view, of the 
greatest importance, and demands of us the most careful con- 
sideration. In discussing it, I shall endeavor neither to add to, 
nor take from what the scriptures teach respecting it ; but, as 
far as I am able, shall lay before you the mind of the Spirit, 
in regard to this great and fundamental truth, in the scheme of 
our salvation. May wisdom from above be imparted, that we 
may know how to speak and how to hear aright, on a subject 
which so directly involves the present and eternal well-being 
of our souls. 

Taking the text in its plainest and most obvious sense, it lays 
before us, with the clearness of sunlight, this great truth, — 
Regeneration, or being born again, is a necessary preparation 
for future happiness. Except a man be born again he can not 
see the kingdom of God. 

Two points demand our attention, — "What is meant by the 
change here indicated; and why is it necessary to prepare us 
for the happiness of heaven. What then is the meaning of 
the phrase " born again," as used by the Saviour in our text ? 
It may assist us to a right understanding of this subject to cite 
some other scriptures, in which language of the same import is 
used. It close connection with our text it is said, — Except a 
man be born of water and of the Spirit, {the purifying spirit) 
he can not enter into the kingdom of God. By the same in- 
fallible teacher it is asserted in another place, — Except ye be 
converted and become as little children, ye can not enter into 
the kingdom of heaven. Those who believe, on the name of 
Christ are said to be born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of, the will of man, but of God. Those christians to 
whom Peter wrote are said to be born again, not of corrupti- 
ble seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, that liveth 
and abideth forever. It is asserted in the first epistle of John, 
— He that doeth righteousness is born of God. Whosoever is 
born of God sinneth not. And further, whosover is born of 
God overcometh the world. There are various other passages 
in which different words are used, but the same change is 
plainly intended. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creat- 
ure; old things have passed away; and all things have become 
new. Christians are said to be saved, by the washing of re- 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 121 

generation, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; to be created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works ; to be renewed in the spirit of 
their minds ; to have passed from death unto life ; to be quick- 
ened, or raised from spiritual death unto spiritual life, and to 
have put on the new man which after God is created in right- 
eousness and true holiness. Now the change indicated in these 
passages is doubtless the same, in its nature, as that intended 
in our text. And in respect to this change, it may safely be 
asserted, 

1. In the first place, that it does not consist in the giving of 
any new faculty or power of mind. The change is plainly of 
a moral nature : a change, not in the substance of the mind, 
but in its disposition, its exercises and affections. It is a change, 
which, as appears from the scriptures already referred to, is 
connected with seeing the kingdom of God, with loving God, 
with overcoming the world, with doing righteousness, and with 
obeying the truth through the spirit. Now all this implies 
voluntariness, preference, choice on the part of those who are 
the subjects of regenerating grace, and not their being endued 
with any new faculty or power of mind. Besides, it is evident 
that sinners in their apostate, unrenewed state, possess all the 
natural powers and faculties which are necessary to constitute 
them free moral agents, and to qualify them for yielding obe- 
dience to the divine commands. They have reason, conscience, 
and the power of choice. They are capable of knowing God, 
of understanding his gospel, of believing on Christ, and of 
performing every duty required of them by divine authority. 
It is plain, therefore, that sinners do not need any new power, 
or faculty of mind, in order to their becoming holy; and we 
may be sure that regeneration does not consist in imparting to 
the mind what it has no need of. Nor, 

2. Does this change consist in a mere reformation of outward 
conduct. Herod, under the preaching of John, was led to 
reform his external life. He heard him gladly, it is said, and 
did many things that were required of him. But Herod was 
still an unregenerated wicked man, as is evident from the fact, 
that when reproved by John for living in licentiousness, his 
resentment was so inflamed, that he took the life of his re- 
prover. Ahab, when divine punishment was denounced against 
him for his gross idolatry and wickedness, humbled himself and 
for a season reformed his conduct and walked softly. But Ahab 



122 NATURE AND NECESSITY OP REGENERATION. 

was still an enemy of God, and died a miserable reprobate. 
So Felix and Agrippa were both greatly moved under the 
preaching of Paul, and were almost persuaded to be Christians. 
But though changed outwardly, their hearts were still the 
same, and their apparent goodness quickly passed away. 

Nothing indeed is more common than to witness a reformation 
in the outward conduct of men, while their hearts are un- 
changed, — still under the dominion of supreme selfishness and 
sin. Such a reformation may be produced by a change of cir- 
cumstances, by a regard to interest or reputation, by a decay 
of spirits, by alarming providences, by a temporary apprehen- 
sion of punishment, or the power of conscience, as in the case 
of Ahab and Herod, or by a vain attempt to atone for some 
darling sin, by a careful performance of outward duties. 
These and various other causes operate to produce a very 
striking change in the external conduct of men, while, at heart, 
they remain just what they were before, strangers to the power 
of godliness and dead in trespasses and sins. Nor, 

3. Does regeneration consist in being baptized, in a particular 
way, or by authorized hands; nor in changing false religious 
opinions for those that are true; nor in a transition from 
Paganism or Judaism to the belief and profession of Christian- 
ity. I should scarcely think it necessary to mention these 
absurd notions, were it not that they find zealous advocates 
in many who assume to be teachers of religion. But let us 
bring them to a simple test. Regeneration, we have seen, 
stands connected with eternal life, with doing righteousness, 
with seeing the kingdom of God, or enjoying its immortal bles- 
sedness. Let it now be asked, does baptism, or renouncing 
false sentiments for true, or passing from Judaism or Paganism, 
to the belief and profession of Christianity, — do these things, 
any one, or all of them necessarily stand connected with eternal 
life, with doing righteousness, with seeing or entering into the 
kingdom of God? Of what avail was it to Judas Iscariot, to 
Simon the sorceror, to Hymeneus and Philetus, that they had 
renounced Judaism and Heathenism, and professedly embraced 
the Christian faith? "Were they therefore regenerated men; 
men who had been born again, born of the Spirit? It is ad- 
mitted that if a man is a Jew, he must give up his Judaism in 
order to become a Christian ; if a Pagan, he must give up his 
paganism, and if erroneous in sentiment or immoral in conduct, 
he must renounce his errors and his immoralities and become 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 123 

correct in sentiment and conduct. But who needs to be con- 
vinced, by argument, that a man may do all this, and yet be an 
unregenerated man, and so unpardoned and unmeet for heaven? 
It is certainly no new or uncommon thing, for a person to receive 
what is called baptismal regeneration, even by authorized hands, 
and still be an irreligious, prayerless person ; or for a person to 
renounce false sentiments for true, immoral conduct for that 
which is correct, and to crown all with a profession of Chris- 
tianity, and yet all the while remain a stranger to regenerating 
grace, an unrenewed, unpardoned enemy of God. 

Thus far I think, we have proceeded on safe ground. Re- 
generation does not consist in giving any new faculties or pow- 
ers of mind; nor in external reformation, nor in baptism, nor 
changing false sentiments for true, nor in passing from Judaism 
or Paganism, or any other false system of religion to the belief 
and profession of Christianity. 

The question now arises, in what does it consist? what is the 
nature of the change which is meant by being regenerated, born 
again, and without which the Saviour has declared we shall never 
enter the kingdom of heaven ? I answer, it consists essentially 
in holy love. It is a change, not in the substance of the soul, 
or its natural powers and faculties, but in its moral affections ; 
in the will or governing purpose and aim of the mind. It is a 
transition from selfishness to benevolence, from loving self and 
the world supremely, to loving God and his kingdom and ser- 
vice supremely. It is the beginning of religion in the soul, 
the turning of the affections from self to God, from earthly 
things to things heavenly and divine. It is of course a volun- 
tary, and not a passive change, — a change which implies choice, 
preference, determination of mind, a setting of the heart on 
God as the chosen, all satisfying portion of the soul and aiming 
henceforth, from delight in his service, to obey his will and live 
to his glory as the great end and object of our being. I am 
not now speaking, you will observe, of the efficient cause of 
regeneration, which is the Spirit of God ; but of its nature. 
I wish to show in what the change consists ; what it is to be 
born again, born of the Spirit; and I have studied the scrip- 
tures and the operations of the mind in vain, if anything else 
is meant by this change, but the commencement of holy love 
in the soul ; a turning from sin to holiness, from the supreme 
love of self to the supreme love of God. That this is the true 
view of the case will appear evident, I think, if we consider, — 



124 NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 

1. That love to God is all that we lost by the fall. Man 
by his apostacy did not lose his reason, or his conscience, or his 
power of choice, or any other of the constituent properties of 
his nature. These belong to us as human beings, and are es- 
sential to constitute us moral and accountable agents. But 
man by his apostacy did cease from loving God and came un- 
der the dominion of supreme selfishness, — was alienated from 
his Maker in the temper of his mind, and opposed to his law 
and government. This is the great moral malady of our fallen 
nature; the evil and the misery of our apostacy from God; su- 
preme love of self, rather than of him who made us. Now 
the design of regeneration, or the work of the Holy Spirit in 
creating us anew, is to repair the ruins of the fall; is to repro- 
duce in the soul what was lost in the apostacy; and as this was 
love, supreme love to our God and King, regeneration, when 
it is wrought within us, is the reinspiring of this holy affection 
in the bosom; is taking away the natural selfishness of the 
heart and disposing it to seek its supreme good in God. 

2. Holy love or supreme affection for God is all that sinners 
need to qualify them for the exercise of every Christian grace, 
and the performance of every Christian duty. Let holy love or 
true benevolence be inspired in the bosom of any lost sinner 
on earth, and he would need nothing more to prepare and dis- 
pose him to exercise all the feelings and perform all the duties 
which pertain to the Christian character. From such love 
actuating the soul would proceed repentance of sin, faith in 
Christ, joy in the Lord, peace, hope, submission, trust and 
practical obedience to every divine requirement. Holy love 
is the root from which all right feelings and conduct naturally 
spring. It expels selfishness and sin from the bosom, lifts the 
thoughts and desires to God and heaven, and leads to the cul- 
tivation pf all the Christian graces and virtues, which are nec- 
essary to prepare us for the inheritance of .the saints in light. 
There is no need therefore of supposing that anything else is 
done in regeneration, but the production of holy love in the 
heart. This, in its natural, unrenewed state is wholly de- 
praved; the love of God has entirely ceased from it ; and it 
is enmity against God, not Subject to his law, nor indeed can 
be. This being the fact, the change demanded to meet the 
case, is a change in the ruling, governing disposition of the 
soul; is a change from enmity to love, from sin to holiness. 
Xhis is all that is needed to correct the moral disorders of the 



l^ATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 125 

c 

mind; to conform the heart and will to the image and require- 
ments of God, and fit the soul for heaven. This then and this 
alone is the change which is wrought in regeneration. 

I add, 3d. This view is abundantly confirmed by the Scrip- 
tures. The fruit of the Spirit, it is said, is love ; that is ; — the 
efiect of his influence on the heart is love. It is said again, love 
is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God. The ex- 
istence of love in the heart is evidence of having been born of 
God, or regenerated, which it could not be, if regeneration con- 
sisted in anything but the production of love in the soul. The 
Apostle Paul also teaches the same thing, when he asserts, that 
he and. other Christians had a hope that made them not 
ashamed, because the love of God was shed abroad in their 
hearts by the Holy Ghost. Spiritual circumcision, which is 
the same as regeneration, is represented as an internal, volun- 
tary change, and as consisting in the production of love. To 
this effect Moses, addressing the people of Israel, says, that their 
hearts should be circumcised " to love the Lord their God.'" 
So when sinners are required, as they are most expressly, to 
change their hearts, or to make them a new heart and a new 
spirit, the meaning plainly is, not that they are to create in 
themselves any new faculty, or power or principle of action, 
but that they cease from selfishness and sin, and begin to love 
God with all their hearts, mind and strength. And here the 
appeal might be made to all who have been born again, wheth^ 
they ever experienced any other change in regeneration, but 
a change from selfishness to benevolence, from hatred to love, 
and from opposition to God, to reconciliation to him and delight 
in his service. No Christian,- no regenerated person, it is pre- 
sumed, was ever conscious of anything else being done for him 
in regeneration, but simply producing in him a right love, love 
to God, and disposing him to a voluntary and cheerful conse- 
cration of himself to his service and glory. Scripture, reason 
and experience, then, all concur to prove that regeneration 
is the production or beginning of love, of holy, self-consecrating 
love in the hearts of those who are the subjects of this great and 
indispensable change. 

I now pass to show, 

II. Why this change is necessary to prepare us for a happy 
vision of God, or for admission into his kingdom. The lano-uage 
ot our baviour on this point is peculiarly explicit and ^olemn. 
Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he 



126 NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 

« 

cannot see the kingdom of God, — cannot see its glory nor 
enjoy its blessedness. And when Nicodemus, to whom this 
language was first addressed, wondered at it, and thought the 
change which it implied impossible, the Saviour sought to 
deepen the impression by repeating the asseveration nearly in 
the same words, varying the language a little to express more 
fully the nature and extent of the change required in order to 
be saved. Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be 
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom 
of God. Our Lord next states the ground of the necessity of 
this change. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that 
which is bom of the Spirit is spirit. By flesh is here to be 
understood the unrenewed nature of man, or man in his 
natural state, fallen, depraved, selfish ; subject to corrupt appe- 
tites and passions. That which is born from such a source, or 
is produced by natural generation, is like its original, is flesh, 
destitute of the higher spirit, wholly wanting in holiness, the 
spiritual element of spiritual life. This can be attained only 
by being born again, born of the Spirit. That which is of his 
producing is like its author, holy, spiritual, heavenly, and is 
therefore a fit and necessary qualification for entering the 
kingdom of God. The Saviour then adds with most impressive 
solemnity — Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born 
again. It is no cause of wonder that fallen, sinful beings, like 
nien, must be regenerated, born of the Spirit, before they can 
enter the kingdom of heaven, or dwell in the presence of a holy 
God. Here you have set before you by the Great Teacher 
himself — the ground of the necessity of the new birth, — it is a 
necessity growing out of the sinful, depraved character of 
man, — a necessity of the most imperious kind, and extending 
to the whole human race. There is no exception. Man is 
fallen, is ruined in sin, and in his natural state is entirely des- 
titute of the love of God and of all meetness for his kingdom 
and service. This is true not of one man, or of some particu- 
lar classes of men, but of all men, of every age and rank and 
condition in society, of all who are born only of the flesh, or 
by natural generation. The Saviour asserts of all such that 
they are flesh, fallen, depraved like those from whom they 
sprung. And in this fact he grounds the necessity of being 
born again — a necessity wide as the nature of man, embracing 
all the descendants of Adam. 

The fact here asserted commends itself to the conscience of 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 127 

every unrenewed person. Every such person knows that what 
Christ said of the Jews is true of himself; ye have not the 
love of God in you. I never feel stronger than when I speak 
of the depravity of man in his natural, unrenewed state. I 
know that I then speak with the Scriptures on my side, and the 
conscience of every unregenerated man. Every such man 
knows that he is not pleased with the character of God. He 
is too holy, too just, too pure, too true, to satisfy the feelings of 
his heart. He does not like to retain him in his knowledge. 
He feels that his presence and his commands are a painful 
restraint upon him; and he naturally says unto God: depart 
from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Account 
for the fact as you may, and draw what inferences from it you 
please, still the fact itself is unquestionable, that man by nature 
has a strong aversion to the character and ways of God. He 
does not love to think of him, nor to pray to him, nor to submit 
to his authority, nor to obey his commands. This aversion to 
God and religious duty is often strikingly manifest, even in 
children •; and it grows with their growth and strengthens with 
their strength, and is manifested in different forms and degrees ; 
in the refined, in the enlightened, in the amiable and in the 
moral, no less than in the unenlightened, the ignorant, and im- 
moral. Forgetfulness of God, disregard of his authority, dis- 
like of his service and insensibility to his claims of gratitude, 
love and homage from his creatures, — these are the symptoms of 
the great moral disease of our nature, and they are found in 
different degrees of development and inveteracy in every hu- 
man being who has not passed the great change which can 
alone produce love in the heart, and restore to the soul the lost 
image of God. 

Here, I repeat, lies the necessity of being born again. It is 
no arbitrary, needless appointment ; it grows out of the charac- 
ter of man as a sinner ; out of his entire want of love to God 
and meetness for his holy kingdom. Can a man who is alien- 
ated in temper and feeling from his God, who dislikes prayer 
and the Scriptures and all the duties of serious religion, and 
seeks his happiness only in the things of earth and time, — 'Can 
such a man, suppose you, be admitted into that kingdom which 
God eternally fills with his presence, and all whose enjoy- 
ments and services are pure and holy. Nothing is plainer than 
that there must be a correspondence between the state of the 
mind, and the spirit and employments of heaven, or it would be 
12 



128 NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 

no happiness to be there. The worldly and the selfish, the. 
proud and the prayerless, the gay, the pleasure loving, the 
thoughtless and profane cannot be happy where God is felt to be 
present, and his will reigns supreme. How then shall persons 
of this character enter the kingdom of God, or be numbered 
hereafter among those whom the Lord knows and accepts as 
his. Shall any thing that defileth or that worketh abomination 
■find a place in the mansions of the just ? O no, it is impossi- 
ble. Ye must be born again. , There is no other preparation 
for heaven but this.. Till this great change is experienced, the 
soul remains in estrangement from God, severed from all vital 
union with its Creator ; dead in sin, cold, lifeless, motionless, in 
respect to all the spiritualities of religion and the interests of 
eternity. And never was there a truth uttered even by the 
Saviour himself, which more commends itself to the conscience, 
which more entirely accords with the character and state of 
man, or which it is more important for every living man to 
know and believe, from experience, than that which is an- 
nounced in the words — "«/e must he horn again." 

Let me, in conclusion, commend this truth to the serious con- 
sideration of each of my hearers. There is not one of you 
my friends, who has not a deep personal interest in the sub- 
ject which has now been presented. In bringing it before 
you, I have wished to keep myself within the teachings of the 
Scriptures. I have no desire to mingle my speculations with a 
subject which involves your present and immortal well being. 
Allow me, then, with all plainness and fidelity, to press the in- 
quiry upon your attention — Do you know from experience, 
what this new birth is, this transition from death to life, without 
which the gates of the kingdom of God are barred against you 
forever? With the truth of this discourse as drawn from our 
text before you, I need not remind you that all the hopes which 
any of you may build on a moral life, or amiable disposition, 
or religious privileges, or learning, or talents, or wealth, are 
based on a foundation of sand and will utterly fail you in 
the day of trial. No matter what you are, or what you 
have, if you have not experienced this change, you will b§ ex- 
cluded from heaven. It would not be possible to make a state- 
-ment more explicit, or more alarming to large classes of men, 
than that made by our Saviour on this point. And yet it is on 
this point that men are constantly prone to deceive themselves. 
You do not mean to be regarded as infidels, — and you are not ; 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OF EEGENERATION. 129 

you are not disposed to be ranked with scoffers ; or to make 
light of the doctrines of the Bible ; you mean to treat religion 
with respect, and to be moral and upright in your conduct. 
But here, on this point which involves your eternal destiny, 
there is a constant delusion playing around the heart, a secret, 
yet most ruinous unbelief of the words of the Saviour. You 
must be born again, is the solemn, emphatic language of the 
Redeemer, or you cannot be saved. Yet, the feeling of the 
heart is, there may be an exception in my case. I am moral, 
I am correct in my deportment, I respect religion and attend 
upon its ordinances and worship, and why should this change 
be indispensable for me? And thus the heart, perhaps almost 
unconsciously, substitutes something in place of the new birth. 
Are none of you, my friends, in danger of making shipwreck, 
on this fatal rock, to the eternal ruin of the soul. In the midst 
of all that is fair in your character, and pleasing in your cir- 
cumstances, and promising in your prospects, you are still met 
with the question — have you been born-again ; have you expe- 
rienced the washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy 
Spirit ; have you the love of God dwelling in your heart, so 
that you are pleased with his character and delight in his ways, 
and live to his glory ? Without this, all other advantages are 
nothing ; all other recommendations are of no avail. Without 
this, you can never be qualified to serve God here, or to enjoy 
him ■ hereafter, and you must be separated forever from the 
kingdom of heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ has settled this 
point beyond the possibility of reconsideration. Never hope 
that it may be reversed, or that some favorable judgment may 
be passed that shall exempt you from the necessity of this 
great change. It can never be ; you can find no subsitute for 
a change of heart. This alone can bring you to repentance 
of sin, to faith in Christ, to delight in God, to joy in his ser- 
vice and preparation for his holy and blessed kingdom. You 
have, therefore, but one question left you to decide ; which is 
this — have you been horn again ? Your all for eternity turns 
on this single point ; for except ye be thus changed, ex- 
cept ye be washed, justified, sanctified in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, you can never behold his 
face in righteousness. 



SERMON XII. 



THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION AN ELEMENT OF POWER 

IN THE GOSPEL. 

Hebrews iv: 12. For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and 
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and 
intents of the heart. 

The text is a description of the power of the word of God 
in general. I shall use it in the present discourse as descriptive 
of the power of the doctrine of regeneration in particular. 
Assuming the truth of this doctrine as illustrated in the preced- 
ing discourse, what I design, at this time, is to show its efficacy, 
its power to awaken the conscience, impress the heart, and move 
the soul, when clearly and faithfully exhibited as taught in the 
word of God. And I observe — 

1. That the doctrine brings before the mind a fact of universal 
and solemn interest; one which deeply and vitally concerns ev- 
ery son and daughter of Adam. The fact is this. Every man, 
in order to be saved, must experience a great moral change; 
inward, deep, radical, wrought by the spirit of God and reaching 
the ruling dispositions, tastes, and habits of the inner man, as 
well as the conduct and character of the outward life. It is a 
change which, as described in the Scriptures, denotes all that is 
meant by being born again; born of the Spirit, becoming a new 
creature, passing from death unto life, and from the power of 
Satan unto God; which gives a new and heavenly bent to the 
affections and aims of the soul, brings it into a vital union with 
Christ, secures its pardon and acceptance with God, and seals 
it an heir of immortal life. This change so deep, so spiritual, 
so abiding, is declared to be of universal necessity. All must 
experience it, or never enter the kingdom of God. All are 
met with the solemn declaration of the Saviour — except ye be 
born again — except ye be converted and become as little chil- 



THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION, ETC. 131 

dren, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
And as there is no exception in regard to the necessity of this 
chancre, so there is no substitute for it. No external reforma- 
tion, no profession, no observance of rites and forms however 
exact, nothing indeed of all that pertains to man in his natural 
state can be accepted in the place of a change of heart, or can 
furnish, without it, the least hope of pardon and acceptance with 
God in the future world. 

Here, then, is a fact of the most impressive interest to every 
human being ; a fact sustained by the direct and oft-repeated 
testimony of the God of truth, and which rightly presented and 
rightly understood, can not but be felt to involve the present 
and eternal wellbeing of the soul. It comes home to the ear of 
the inner man as a voice from heaven; ye must be born again, 
become a new creature in Christ, or never enter into life; and 
no unregenerated man can hear this voice without, at least for 
a time, being disquieted in his spirit and made to look around 
him for safety. 

2. Another element of power in the doctrine of regeneration 
is, that it is based on the fact of man's entire moral depravity ; 
his utter destitution, by nature, of love to God. This is the 
ground on which the Saviour places the necessity of the new 
birth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh — is unholy, car- 
nal,' selfish, unmeet for the service and the kingdom of God. 
This is the character of every man in his natural, unregenerated 
state. Marvel not, therefore, that I said unto thee, ye must be 
born again. 

The fact here assumed, or rather asserted, of man's natural 
unfitness for the holiness and bliss of heaven, is one which, be- 
yond almost any other, is adapted to find its way to the secret 
chambers of the soul, and there wake up sensibility, and anxiety, 
and alarm. It lays open a moral disease within, of the most 
dangerous and fatal character. It strikes directly at the root of 
pride, and sweeps away, as nothing worth, all the fancied right- 
eousness and vain hopes with which men are wont to flatter and 
deceive themselves in their natural state of sin and estrange- 
ment from God. Man is naturally proua. He does not love 
to think of himself as an alien from God and an enemy by 
wicked works. Ho chooses rather to take to his soul the flat- 
tering unction of believing that he is spiritually whole, that he 
has much within and without him, which God regards with fa- 
vor, and which he thinks must surely exempt him from the 
12* 



132 THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION 

sweeping condemnation of one who is dead in trespasses and 
sins. The doctrine of regeneration meets him, and the first 
lesson it presses on his attention is his utter sinfulness in the 
sfght of God. It tells him at once, and plainly, that whatever 
else he may have, the love of God is not in him ; that witiiout 
this all the attainments and accomplishments on which he is 
wont to pride himself are but as sounding brass and a tinkling 
cymbal, and that so entirely is his nature marred and corrupted 
by sin, that by no works of righteousness of his own can he 
ever be saved, but only by the washing of regeneration and re- 
newing of the Holy Ghost. This is a humiliating, an alarming 
declaration to be sounded in the ear of proud, self-righteous 
man. He can hear almost any thing with more composure and 
self-satisfaction, than that he is under the dominion of a carnal 
mind, which is enmity against God, and must therefore be born 
aofain or never enter heaven. There is nothin^j in the whole 
word of God so fitted to humble and alarm unrenewed man, or 
to rouse him to earnest inquiry, as the plain, solemn declaration 
— ye must be born again, or never be saved, and that, chiefly, 
because it turns his thoughts inward, unmasks the native corrup- 
tions of his heart, and shows him that in his natural unrenewed 
state he is dead in sin, and wholly unfit for the kingdom of God. 
3. The doctrine of regeneration has great power, as it sum- 
mons every man to a direct and solemn inquiry into the founda- 
tion of his hopes for eternity. It makes religion a matter of 
spiritual personal experience. It magnifies and holds it up as 
a concern of supreme importance to every human being, and 
cuts off every hope of eternal life, wfiich is not connected with 
vital, indwelling piety, proceeding from a heart renewed by the 
Holy Spirit. Take this doctrine away, and let men be left to 
believe that no radical change of character is necessary to fit 
them for heaven; or if any change be necessary, it is only such 
a change as is effected gradually, in an ordinary use of means, 
and they at once settle down in a careless repose in sin and go 
on, dreaming through life, that all is safe with them. Every 
fear is hushed and every disquietude removed by a heartless 
observance of forms ; and the warnings and threatenings of the 
Bible awaken no anxiety, and prompt to no effort, while the 
delu.sive belief is cherished that religion is not a matter of in- 
ward personal experience, but rather of decent form and out- 
ward observance. It matters not what else is taught in the 
family, or preached in the pulpit, if regeneration by the Holy 



AN ELEMENT OF POWER IN THE GOSPEL. 133 

Spirit be not taught and preached as essential to the soul's en- 
trance into life, impenitent men will feel secure in their impen- 
itence, and live and die carelessly in their estrangement from 
God. 

But let this doctrine be clearly and faithfully inculcated, let 
men be taught from the word of God that there is no hope for 
them only as they are born again, become new creatures in 
Christ, and the whole subject of religion assumes at once a new 
and solemn aspect in their view, and its claims are brought 
hoijie to the conscience and heart as a matter of direct, personal 
concern. Their relations to God and another world are seen in 
an entirely new and most impressive light. They see that all 
the hopes which they have been wont to entertain, built on birth, 
or talents, or learning, or outward observances, are wholly vain 
and delusive, and that if ever they would be saved, they must 
experience the renewing grace of God as that which can alone 
deliver them from the power of sin, and fit them for the purity 
and blessedness of heaven. 

4. The doctrine of regeneration draws a plain and palpable 
line of distinction between the righteous and the wicked, and 
divides all mankind into two classes. As it assumes the fact 
that all men are by nature in estrangement from God, and ene- 
mies by wicked works, so it brings out and asserts another fact, 
equally humiliating and alarming, namely, that none are his 
friends or can become such but by being born again, created 
anew in the temper of their minds by divine grace. And who 
has not seen and felt that this fact, plainly exhibited and faith- 
fully applied, rarely fails to arrest the attention and rouse the 
sensibilities even of the most careless and worldly minded hear- 
ers? What was it that gave to the preaching of Christ such 
peculiar power and pungency, but his constantly holding up the 
great truth that, in relation to him and his cause, there is no 
neutrality; that all who are not for him are against him; that 
all who are not his friends are his enemies, and in the broad 
way to destruction? Nothing so tries the hearts of men or is 
so fitted to awaken the conscience and move the feelings, as to 
be told on the authority of God, that while unregenerated, they 
must be classed with the wicked, and share with them in the 
guilt and condemnation of unforgiven sin. But this is told them 
whenever the doctrine of regeneration is plainly and directly 
proclaimed in their hearing. That doctrine meets every man 
with the solemn and emphatic question, whether he is or is not 



134 THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION 

a regenerated man, one born of the spirit, a new creature in 
Christ; and according as that question is decided in the affirm- 
ative or in the negative, he is passed over to the side of the 
righteous or of the wicked, of the friends or of the enemies of 
God. This point, I say, is brought before the mind for decision 
whenever the declaration of our Lord — je must be born again 
or never enter heaven — is pressed home on the heart and con- 
science. And it is a point, which beyond almost any other, is 
adapted to agitate the spirit and rouse to serious inquiry and 
effort. It forces upon the mind the conviction that there are 
but two classes of men in this world — the righteous and the 
wicked, the regenerate and the unregenerate, the pardoned and 
the condemned, the travelers on the narrow way and the trav- 
elers on the broad way; and no man, while this conviction 
abides upon him, can be easy in his conscience or quiet in his 
feelings till he has some good evidence that he has passed that 
great change which can alone bring him into a state of recon- 
ciliatidn with God and fit him to dwell in his presence. 

5. It forms another element of power in the doctrine we are 
considering, that it brings man, as it were, into direct contact 
with his God ; makes him feel that he has to do, in the matter 
of his salvation, not with man merely, but with an Agent, infi- 
nitely above man, even the Holy Spirit, whose peculiar office it 
is to renew the heart and fit the soul for heaven. It makes an 
amazing difference, as to the impressiveness and power of reli- 
gious truth, whether it brings man near to God or leaves him 
at a distance from him ; whether it makes the impression on 
the soul that in order to be saved it must come under the trans- 
forming agency of the Holy Spirit, or may secure its own salva- 
tion without any direct influence from a higher power. In the 
one case all is solemn, weighty, impressive ; in the other, all is 
easy, superficial, transient. In the one case men are wont to be 
awed and bowed, as under the power of a present God; 
in the other, they are left unimpressed and unconcerned, having 
no sense of their dependence or of their need of help from above. 
Now the doctrine of regeneration, the renewing of the soul by 
the Holy Spirit, is eminently fitted to bring out and make appa- 
rent this difference. Its very first announcement is, man, thou art 
dead in sin ; and none can raise thee to spiritual life, but the 
power that first gave thee being. Thou hast destroyed thyself, 
and in God alone is thy help. And never is a scene witnessed 
on earth so deeply solemn and impressive, as when God sets 



AN ELEMENT OF POWER IN THE GOSPEL. 135 

home this truth on the mind; as when he sends forth his 
Spirit to lodge it in the hearts of men and bring them to 
repentance and life. We then see illustrated in fact, what 
is tauirht us in doctrine, that the word of God is indeed 
quick and powerful. The mind is open, the conscience awake 
and the heart impressible. God by his spirit is felt to be 
near, and all is thoughtfulness and solemnity before him. 
The impression is then made upon the soul, deep and vivid, 
that sin is indeed a great 'evil, that pardon through Christ 
is indispensable, and that the agency of the Holy Spirit 
is alone adequate to change the heart and form the subject 
meet for heaven. There is indeed no truth that can be 
brought before the mind, so serious, so weighty, so fitted to ar- 
rest attention, to awaken the conscience and move the deepest 
feelings of the soul, as that which announces the fact of a mighty 
Agent, the Holy Spirit, being abroad among men on the errand 
of their salvation, and that by his influence he does enter the 
bosom and there create a temple, meet for his own indwelling. 
This is a truth which brings man into so close a connection with 
God, and is so fitted to make him feel his weakness and de- 
pendence, and at the same time, his help in a mighty, renewing, 
all pervading power, that it can never be heard with indiffer- 
ence ; never indeed, except in cases of hopeless impenitence, 
without deep and solemn emotion. 

6. Facts show that the doctrine of regeneration is one of pe- 
culiar power and impressiveness. It is the doctrine which, in 
every age of the Christian Church, has been more signally 
owned than any other in the awakening and salvation of men. 
From the time when it was preached by Christ to Nicodemus, 
till this day, it has always had a conspicuous place among the 
means of producing and promoting revivals of religion and of 
advancing God's cause of truth and righteousness in the world. 
It is a fact established by all history, that religion has flour- 
ished or declined in the church, and sinners have been awak- 
ened and converted, or have been careless and negligent of 
salvation, just in proportion as the doctrine of regeneration by 
divine influence, with other truths essentially connected with it, 
has been held forth with clearness and power in the instructions 
of the pulpit, or has been set aside in neglect and unbelief. 
This doctrine was firmly believed by the Puritans and Non- 
conformists in England, and did more to revive and advance 
vital piety in that* country, in an age of extreme corrup- 



136 THE DOCTRINE OP REGENERATION 

tion, darkness and sin, than any other means whatever. It 
was firmly held and believed by the fathers of New England ; 
our early churches were all planted and built up in the faith of 
this doctrine, and while it continued to be taught from the pul- 
pit and in the family and schools, religion flourished and revi- 
vals were frequent and powerful. At length, after the lapse of 
some sixty or seventy years, this doctrine began to be lost sight 
of; it was less frequently and less clearly exhibited in the 
instructions of the sanctuary ; ministers, if they did not disbe- 
leive it in form, as generally they did not, gradually let it fall 
from their preaching, broke its power by mingling with it loose, 
Arminian notions of conversion, and flattered their hearers 
that they might be good Christians and be saved by seriously 
using the means of grace, as it was called, and observing the 
forms of religion. The consequence was, vital religion sadly 
declined throughout the land, and formalism and deadness 
reigned to a most fearful extent. By far the darkest period in 
the moral and religious history of New England, was from 
about ] 680, to 1730, — when the practice of admitting persons 
to the church on what was called the half way covenant was 
generally adopted, and a change of heart was not regarded as 
an essential qualification for communion at the Lord's table. 
And what was it that checked the incoming of error and worldli- 
ness and revived the dying piety of the churches ? It was, more 
than anything else, the calling up afresh, from oblivion and neg- 
lect, the doctrine of regeneration; the pressing upon the attention 
of the people the great truth, which had long lain neglected and 
inoperative, that in order to be saved they must undergo a rad- 
ical change in their moral feelings and principles of action. 
This was the essential and most important element in the great 
revival of 1740. The doctrine of the new birth was re- 
vived and held forth with great prominence and power by such 
men as Whitefield, and the Wesleys, and Edwards, and the two 
Tennents ; and under the preaching of that doctrine with its 
related truths, it has been computed that from forty to fifty 
thousand were in a few years added to the churches of New 
England, and many more in other parts of our country ; and 
an impulse was given to the cause of evangelical truth and 
piety throughout the land, the fruits of which we are reaping 
at the present day. Read over the accounts of revivals as 
recorded in the old Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, which 
took place in this State some sixty or seventy jears ago, and 



AN ELEMENT OF POWER IN THE GOSPEL. 137 

you cannot but be struck with the prominency which was uni- 
formly given by the ministers of that day, to the doctrine of 
the new birth, the doctrine of the Hoi} Spirit's influence in re- 
newing the hearts of men. They seem to have regarded this 
doctrine as the vital, moving principle of every true revival 
among their people ; and they dwelt upon it with great distinct- 
ness and frequency in their preaching. And in the numerous 
and powerful revivals that have blessed our land in these latter 
days, who needs to be informed that wherever they have oc- 
curred, they have occurred under the preaching that derives its 
impressiveness and power from this and other doctrines con- 
nected with it ? Go where the doctrine of regeneration is sup- 
pressed or denied, and what do you behold but indifference and 
deadness, the valley of the bones, very dry, all lifeless and 
motionless? Go where it is preached, plainly and faithfully, 
accompanied with prayer in the ministry and in the church 
for the descending influences of the Spirit, and how univer- 
sally and invariably do you see religion flourishing and fruitful, 
sinners awakened and converted and moral verdure and beauty 
clothing the Lord's vineyard ? And this is just what might be 
expected from the nature of the case. For if there is a Holy 
Spirit, if his agency is indispensable to renew the heart of 
fallen man and fit him for heaven, and if there is no life and no 
salvation without such a change, then it may be inferred with 
entire certainty, that those ministers and churches, that most 
gratefully recognize this great truth, that most fully and cor- 
dially beUeve it, and give it a proper prominency in their 
instructions, prayers and eflforts to build up the cause of God, 
will most frequently and abundantly enjoy the visitations of the 
Spirit and witness the displays of his power in the awakening 
and salvation of sinners. 

In conclusion, I am led to remark — 

1. That we learn from our subject why mere ethical £>r 
moral preaching has so little eflfect in the reformation of men. 
The fact is unquestionable. And as one proof for all, I may 
refer you to the oft repeated testimony of the famous Dr. 
Chalmers. After an experiment of twelve years in preaching 
morality among the people of his charge, in Kilmany, during 
which time, he says, he urged upon them with great frequency 
and earnestness the reformations of honesty, integrity and the 
like, he gives this as the result ; he knew not that his preach- 
ing ever had any reforming effect upon the moral habits of his 



138 THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION 

people. And similar has been the result wherever a like ex- 
periment has been made ; or wherever the preaching of mere 
morality has been relied on as the means of reforming the 
morals of men. The reason is obvious. Such preaching 
reaches not the core of the disease in man. It leaves out of 
view the great, distinguishing, life inspiring doctrines of God's 
word ; especially the doctrine of a change of heart as produced 
by the Holy Spirit, and it wants, therefore, the only power that 
can reach the springs of feeling and action in the inner man, 
and lead to holiness of life. If you would make the fruit good, 
you must make the tree good. You cannot, gather grapes of 
thorns, nor figs of thistles. No more can you effectually re- 
form men, but by implanting in them the love and the fear of 
God ; giving them a new heart and a new spirit. And this is 
never done but by a faithful exhibition of the great vital prin- 
ciples of God's word, made efficacious by the influence of the 
Holy Spirit. All else is like cultivating plants that have no 
roots. It is but daubing with untempered mortar ; healing 
the wounds of man's moral nature slightly, just to have 
them break out again in the death of the soul. 

2. Every system of religion which obscures or keeps out of 
sight, or in any way compromises the doctrine of regeneration 
is radically defective and of dangerous tendency. A minister 
can do nothing so fatal to the salvation of his people as to 
leave them in ignorance or in doubt on this great, fundamental 
principle of the gospel. His preaching may be learned, may 
be eloquent, attractive and pleasing ; but if it fails to make a 
clear and full impression, as to the nature and necessity of a 
change of heart, it fails in a vital point, and his whole ministry 
is sure to be marked with weakness and inefficiency. It were 
better, in so far as the salvation of the soul is concerned, that 
a minister should enter his pulpit from Sabbath to Sabbath, 
having nothing else to say to his people, but this ; " Te must 
he hojm again, or never see life, than to deliver to them the 
ablest and most ingenious discourses from which this spiritual 
element of divine truth is excluded. In this view, how lament- 
able it is to reflect, that there are so many pulpits in our land 
which never resound to this great doctrine of revelation, and 
that so many systems of religion are zealously propagated 
at the present day, which ignore, cover up, pervert, or directly 
deny the truth which we have been discussing? One class 
of teachers mock at the doctrine of regeneration as a de- 



AN ELEMENT OF POWER IN T3E GOSPEL. 139 

lusion, and deride every pretension to a change of heart 
wrought by the Holy Spirit as essential to salvation. An- 
other class set aside the doctrine by denying that there is a 
Holy Ghost, or that there is any such thing as a direct divine 
influence necessary to change the heart of man, and fit the soul 
for heaven. Another class still, while admitting the doctrine 
in words, explain it away in fact, asserting that the change in- 
tended is a gradual, imperceptible change, wrought in the way 
of moral culture, and the natural influence of means in devel- 
oping the internal, inbred germs of goodness and virtue. And 
not to mention other examples, the Oxford Tract heresy, as it is 
called, — a form of error strongly approximating, in many of its 
dogmas, some of the worst features of Popery, spreading ex- 
tensively, it is said, in the established church of England, and 
I fear to a sad extent also, in some portions of the Episcopal 
Church in this country — that comes out boldly and asserts that 
regeneration is baptism, or is effected in baptism, when duly 
administered by authorized hands. Even Melvill, whose ser- 
mons edited and commended by a distinguished prelate in this 
country, contain many very good things, does not hesitate to 
affirm that the church of England does hold and teach baptis- 
mal regeneration, and is quite confident that nothing less or 
more than this is taught in the foriiiulary of baptism, contained 
in the Prayer Book.* Now is it not a matter deeply to be de- 
plored that a doctrine of such vital importance to the salvation 
of the soul should lose its meaning and its power by being 
identified with a mere outward rite ? Many, very many, it is 
to be feared, are in this way deceived to their eternal ruin; 
thinking themselves regenerated because baptized ; mistaking 
the sign for the thing signified, the shadow for the substance ; 
and so perishing in miserable self deception, induced by a false 
view and a false use of a religious ordinance. My friends, I 
touch upon this topic, not to find fault with others, but to lead 
you to a just apprehension of the danger of every doctrine, 
and of every form of doctrine that tends to make you think 
lightly of a change of heart as wrought by the Holy Spirit, or 
which allows you for a moment to substitute anything in the 
place of such a change as a preparation for heaven. You have 
the testimony of him who cannot be deceived and who is to 
judge you at the last day, that except you be born again, born 

*Vol. 2; 305 p. 

13 



140 THE DOCTRINE OP REGENERATION, &C. 

of the Spirit, not a soul of you shall enter into the kingdom 
of God. 

3. To conclude, let the question be brought home, do you 
know, my hearers, from experience, the meaning of the doc- 
trine of which I have been speaking? Do not turn aside 
the point and weight of this question by thinking with yourself 
what a variety of opinion is held on the doctrine under con- 
sideration, or how many are mistaken, who have thought 
themselves the subjects of regenerating grace. The question 
before you is direct, personal ; — have you experienced that 
change without which the Saviour declares you cannot be 
saved ? Say not, that as this change is effected by the power 
of the Holy Spirit, you have no concern in the matter, and 
cannot be guilty, if you are not the subject of it. This would 
be to pervert and abuse the doctrine of divine influence to 
your ruin. The true practical effect of that doctrine is, not to 
encourage sloth, but to prompt to action ; not to encourage pre- 
sumption, but to cut off false confidence, to make you see your 
sin and your danger, where your help lies, and to bring you to 
cast yourself upon God, who alone can help and save you. O 
how many times, in respect to not a few of you, has the Holy 
Spirit come seeking access to your minds, offering, as it were, to 
take you by the hand and lead you to Christ, and you would 
not! And yet his assistance you must have, his renewing 
grace you must experience, or for you there is no hope for eter- 
nity. Beware then how you disregard the monitions of God's 
Holy Spirit ; how you turn away from his proffered aid, his 
kindly visits to your bosom. It may cost you eternal salva- 
tion. And perhaps of all the methods by which guilty man is 
exposed to grieve the Holy Spirit to abandon him, none is more 
effectual than perverting to purposes of sloth and presumption, 
the doctrine of the necessity of his agency to sanctify and save 
the soul. That doctrine, rightly understood, is life and power. 
Beyond perhaps any other doctrine of the Bible, it is adapted 
to rouse from sloth, to sweep aw^ay presumptuous hopes, and to 
excite to direct and earnest efforts in the great business of se- 
curing salvation. Let the doctrine come home in its true, 
scriptural meaning, and such will be its effect on you. Con- 
vinced of your need of help from above, you could no longer 
rest in a condition of impenitence and estrangement from God ; 
but you would fall down before your King and Judge and cry 
to him for help with the earnestness of a dying man. Then 



EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 141 

there would be hope in your case. Admit to your mind then, 
without perversion and without resistance, the great and solemn 
fact, you must be born again, or be separated forever from the 
kingdom of heaven. Your all for eternity turns on your expe- 
riencing this change. Our Lord Jesus Christ has settled this 
point beyond the possibility of reconsideration. Never hope 
that it may be reversed, that it may. be revised ; that some fa- 
vorable judgment may be passed that shall exempt you from 
the necessity of this great change. It can never be, never 
never. 



SEEM ON XIII. 



EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OP T^E SPIRIT. 

Zechariah xii: 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications; and they 
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, 
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one 
that is in bitterness for his first born. 

The prediction contained in this scripture has primary ref- 
erence to the Jewish nation, and its fulfillment is yet future. It 
points to a day when upon the dispersed of Israel, God will 
pour out his spirit and gather them into the fold of Christ, — 
when reclaimed from their impenitence and unbelief, and cor- 
dially reconciled to God through the blood of him whom their 
fathers crucified and slew, they shall return and come to Zion 
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. 

The immediate effects of this outpouring of the Spirit are 
strikingly set forth. They are indicated by a spirit of grace 
and supplication excited among the people ; by their looking 
upon him whom they have pierced, and mourning for their 
treatment of him in deep repentance and bitterness of spirit. 



142 EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 

And when they shall thus be humbled for their sins, and shall 
look with an eye of faith to him who is the only Saviour of 
lost men, God will show himself their reconciled father and 
friend, receive them into his favor and seal them heirs of his 
kingdom. 

But not to enlarge on this primary application of the text, 
what I design in the present discourse, is to describe to you the 
appropriate effects of an outpouring of the Spirit. This is a 
subject of supreme importance. It directs our attention to the 
work of the Holy Spirit in renewing the heart and fitting the 
soul for heaven. It enters of course directly into the experi- 
ence of every true Christian ; and by every sinner, it must be 
understood and felt, or for him there is no pardon and no hope 
for eternity. 

In discussing the subject I shall assume two facts ; — first, 
that the influence of the Holy Spirit is exerted in every case 
of true conversion ; and secondly, there are times when this 
influence is granted in greater copiousness and power than 
at others. Both these facts are plainly taught in the scrip- 
tures, and are in perfect accordance with all we see and know 
of the actual dispensations of grace towards the children of 
men. Taking it for granted then that those whom I address 
admit the reality, of a divine influence in every instance of 
sound conversion, and that this influence is bestowed in larger 
measure at sometimes than at others, according to the good 
pleasure of God, I proceed to notice some of the effects which 
are produced by an outpouring of the spirit. 

1. One effect of such a visitation of mercy is to impart to 
the people of God a spirit of grace and supplication. Thus in 
our text, referring to the days of Israel's conversion, it is said; 
— I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabi- 
tants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications ; — 
that is, I will give them a mind, or produce in them a disposi- 
tion to seek my grace in humble, fervent, believing prayer. 
This is always an effect of a special effusion of the spirit, and 
one of the first signs by which such a visitation is indicated. 
I need not point you to facts in proof of this. The whole his- 
tory of God's deahngs with his church is an illustration of it. 
"Whenever he comes near to a people and is about to display 
his power in the conversion of sinners, he always awakens a 
spirit of prayer among his friends ; causes them to feel their 
dependence and need of his help, and disposes them, both in 



EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OP THE SPIRIT. 143 

public and in private, unitedly and alone, to seek his face and 
favor. At such times there is wont to be felt in the hearts of 
God's people, a deep and tender concern for the salvation of 
souls perishing in sin. They are greatly affected in view of 
their state and prospects as condemned and lost. They feel 
strong and irrepressible desires that they might be saved. 
This leads them to be much at the throne of grace, and to 
great importunity in their supplications to God. They visit 
their closets, and there make intercession for their dying fellow 
men, with strong crying and tears. They unite together and 
form little circles for the purpose of seeking those aids from 
on high of which they feel so deeply their need. And on such 
occasions it is no ordinary prayer that is offered. There is in 
it an unwonted tenderness and earnestness; a degree of humil- 
ity, of affection and faith unknown in the ordinary prayers of 
Christians, and which clearly shows it to be of the Holy Spirit's 
inditing. Wherever God draws near to revive his work, his 
presence is indicated by a spirit of grace and supplication, on 
the part of his friends, which leads them to offer such prayers 
as never were and never will be disappointed. How shall I 
describe this spirit ? If you have never felt it, you will not be 
able to understand it by any description that can be given of it. 
It is attended with desires so ardent, as to give the soul no rest, 
and yet so submissive, as to be willing to yield every thing to 
the will of God. It is attended with a sense of dependence 
that fixes the eye on God, in a heart-felt persuasion that help 
can only come from him; and yet with an earnest diligent 
use of means, that will not stop, nor relinquish the object 
of pursuit till it is attained. It is marked with great hu- 
mility and self-abasement, with a deep, penetrating sense of 
personal unworthiness in the sight of God. It is connected 
with strong faith in God, which pleads his promises and looks 
with humble confidence for their fulfillment. It is instinct 
with benevolent concern for the impenitent, and leads to direct 
efforts for their salvation. 

Such are the feelings and views which God inspires in his 
people, when he pours upon them a spirit of grace and suppli- 
cation. They awake from their slumbers. They mourn over 
their past unfaithfulness in duty. They cast off the spirit of 
worldliness and unbelief and realize in some measure, as they 
aught, the {)owers of the world to come. God and eternity, 
and heaven and hell seem near, and press on the mind with 
13* 



144 EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 

-deep and solemn interest, as present realities, and under the 
impression of these things, they are constrained to feel, to pray 
and act for the salvation of souls perishing in sin. When this 
£tate of feeling exists among the members of a church, it is a 
sure indication that God is in the midst of them, and is about 
to manifest his power and grace in the awakening and conver- 
sion of sinners. 

2. Another effect of an outpouring of the spirit is to arrest 
the attention of the impenitent, and turn their thoughts directly 
upon the things of their eternal peace. While Christians, con- 
strained by the spirit of grace and supplication are engaged to 
pour out their desires before God that sinners may be saved, an 
unusual seriousness and tenderness of mind are wont soon to be 
visible among the impenitent. They are visited with thoughts 
and feeUng respecting God and salvation to which they have 
hitherto been entire strangers. Eternal things come near and 
are seen in a light in which they were never before contem- 
plated. Scenes of gayety and amusement lose their attraction. 
The day and the means of grace are prized as they never were 
Tjefore, and the interests of the soul begin to be regarded as 
the all absorbing subject of thought and attention. Meetings 
for conference and prayer assume a new and solemn interest, 
^nd are attended by many who have before lived in entire neg- 
lect of them. The mind is open to the influence of God's 
truth. The heart is tender and susceptible of reb'gious impres- 
sions ; and what is now said, in the way of instruction and 
warning falls with new weight and solemnity upon the con- 
science, and is felt to be of supreme importance. 

This state of mind may at first be confined to a few individ- 
uals. But if God has indeed come near to pour out his spirit, 
it soon extends to other hearts, and many are seen inquiring the 
way to Zion with their faces thitherward. Places of convivial- 
ity and mirth are forsaken. The assembhes on the Sabbath 
put on a new and more solemn aspect. Every eye is fixed and 
€very heart feels, while eternal objects are brought near and 
eternal truth is seen and felt in its wide connections and mo- 
mentous results. There is an air of seriousness spread over 
the assembly, which tells you that God is there. Christians feel 
it, sinners feel it, and the ambassador of God feels it, while he 
delivers his messages of grace and truth, and propounds the re- 
vealed terms of pardon and life. So it is when God pours out 
his spirit. A secret, yet mighty influence, passes from heart 
to heart and from family to family, till it pervades the whole 



EFFECTS OP AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 145 

congregation. No voice from heaven has spoken, no alarming 
providence has occurred, no unusual means have been em- 
ployed. No fire, no whirlwind, no earthquake has produced the 
change ; but God has spoken in the still small voice of his spirit, 
and the conscience is awake and the heart opened to attend to 
the interests of the soul and eternity with new sensibility and 
earnestness. 

3. Another effect of an outpouring of the spirit is to produce 
in the impenitent, a painful conviction of sin and danger. The 
attention of sinners may be arrested and their thoughts turned 
upon the concerns of the soul, and yet they may have no 
proper sense of their sinfulness in the sight of God. Such 
means may be employed to awaken them, and such vague, in- 
judicious instructions may be given to them, as are adapted 
only to work upon the imagination and move and excite their 
feelings. In this case there may be a great deal of excitement, 
much feeling and concern of some kind, while there is no con- 
viction of sin, and no just sense of desert of punishment on 
account of it. Where this occurs the effect is unhappy. The 
excited feeling is likely soon to pass away, and leave the 
heart more hard and insensible than ever. 

But when God pours out his spirit, an invariable effect is to 
convince men of sin, and to give them an abiding sense of its 
great evil, as a violation of his holy law. This is plainly inti- 
mated in the text. They shall look upon me whom they have 
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an 
only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one is in bitter- 
ness for his first born. It is declared also by our Saviour to 
be the peculiar, official work of the Holy Spirit to convince 
the world of sin; and we know from facts, that wherever he 
exerts his influence upon the hearts of impenitent men, there 
he always produces a painful sense of guilt ; a feeling of utter 
ill desert and self condemnation, in view of the great evil of 
sin, as committed against God. And so it must be from the 
nature of the case. What is the work to be accomplished by 
the agency of the Holy Spirit? It is to awaken sinners from 
the slumbers of a false security; it is to sweep away their 
refuges of lies and destroy their delusive hopes ; it is to show 
them their true state and character as dead in trespasses and 
sins, condemned by the law they have violated, and exposed to 
endless ruin, and thus to bring them humble, penitent and con- 
trite to Christ as their only refuge and hope. And can this be 
done without producing in the sinner a painful sense of violated 



146 EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 

obligation ; a deep and sorrowful conviction of his guilt and 
misery, as in estrangement from God and obnoxious to his 
righteous displeasure? No, my friends, no. Let the spirit of 
God visit any sinner with his awakening and converting influ- 
ences, and the immediate effect will be to fix his attention upon 
his sins and to make him feel that he is poor and miserable and 
lost. His whole character and life will appear to him as they 
never did before. Feelings and actions, which he once regard- 
ed with indifference, or thought perhaps to be virtuous and 
good, will now be seen by him to be utterly unholy and sinful. 
His sins of heart will appear to him immensely more numerous 
and aggravated than they once did. The law will shed its 
light upon the conscience, and rouse it to new activity ; to a 
keener perception of right and a deeper feeling of obligation ; 
and when the commandment, seen now to be exceeding broad, 
extending to all the secret workings of the mind, as well as 
actions of the life, is brought home and applied to his own case 
by the Spirit of God, the sinner can not but feel that he is 
justly condemned, and that on the ground of his own doings 
there is not the least hope for him. This leads me to ob- 
serve, 

4. That another effect of an outpouring of the spirit, is to 
cut off self-confidence and produce a sense of entire depend- 
ence on God for pardoning mercy and renewing grace. Chris- 
tians and ministers then feel, as they never did before, their 
weakness, and the utter impotency of every arm of flesh ; and 
while under this impression they look away from men and 
means, as wholly insuflicient to bring a single soul to Christ 
and salvation, they cast themselves upon God, and feel that all 
their help must come from him. Their eye is directed to his 
throne, and their hope rests alone on the interposition of his 
grace. 

So when sinners are awakened by the Holy Spirit to a just 
view of their character and state, their vaunted strength is at 
once turned into weakness, and they are made to feel that if 
God does not save them they shall never be saved. In their 
natural state of carelessness and sin, they are wont to feel 
strong, They have no just idea of the power of sin that 
dwells in them, nor of the bands and cords that bind them in 
their estrangement from God. Hence, they are continually 
prone to form resolutions of future repentance, to rely upon 
means, and to trust in their own strength, as sufficient to secure 
their salvation. But all this delusive self confidence vanishes 



EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 147 

at once, under the awakening and convincing influences of the 
Holy Spirit. At first, the sinner is wont to have but a slight 
impression of his moral weakness and dependence. He thinks 
that if he breaks off his outward sins and gives a serious atten- 
tion to the subject of religion, it will all be well with him. 
But if the work of conviction goes on, he soon finds that the 
disease lies deep within, and must be probed with a stronger 
hand or never be removed. Then he begins to look at his 
heart and has recourse to various expedients to heal its mala- 
dies, and fondly hopes, at every new application, that the need- 
ed cure will be affected. But all is found in vain. The dis- 
ease is still there. The heart of stone still remains, and all 
self-effort to soften and subdue it to the love and obedience of 
Christ proves abortive. One remedy after another fails, one 
prop after another is taken away, till all are gone, and the sinner, 
finding himself driven from every refuge, is constrained to cry, 
— Lord, save me, or I perish. To this point the Holy Spirit 
ultimately brings all true penitents. He causes them to feel 
as Paul did, when the commandment came home ; sin revives 
and they die. They die as to all sense of native indwelling 
goodness, as to all claim of merit, as to all hope of salvation in 
any other way, but the free mercy and grace of God in Christ. 
It is in this way that the lofty looks of man are humbled, and 
the haughtiness of man is brought down, and the Lord abne is 
exalted in the day when he pours out his spirit and gathers 
sinners, redeemed and renewed into his kingdom. I mention, 

5. One other effect of an outpouring of the spirit, which is, 
to renew the heart and bring the sinner to repentance and cor- 
dial reconciliation to God. This great change is indispensable 
to salvation, and it is preeminently the work of the Holy Spirit. 
It is never affected by mere means. Means may enlighten 
the mind; means may impress the conscience and reform the 
outward conduct to a certain extent, but they can not renew 
the heart, or inspire in the soul, dead in sin, a principle of true 
spiritual life. It is not by might nor by power, but by my 
Spirit saith the Lord. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but 
it is God alone who giveth the increase. Hence Christians 
are said to be the workmanship of God, to be created anew in 
Christ Jesus by his mighty power, and to be born, not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

The change, which is thus wrought by the Spirit of God, is 
a great change. It reaches the deep springs of feeling and ac- 



148 EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 

tion in the soul. It takes away the heart of stone and gives a 
heart of flesh. It slays the enmity of the carnal mind ; im- 
parts a new and heavenly bent to the atfections and desires of 
the inner man, and brings the soul into a cheerfid and happy 
reconciliation to the law and gospel, and to the character and 
service of God. Under the transforming influences of the 
Spirit, the dead in sin are made alive in holiness ; the proud 
become humble, the prayerless prayerful, the selfish benevo- 
lent, and the worldly minded devout and heavenly in their tem- 
pers. Old things pass away ; all things become new to them ; 
they have new desires, new tastes, new aims, new hopes and 
live for a new end, the glory of God and their own immortal 
well being. It is a permanent change, abiding in the soul as a 
new life, a life of peace, of hope and joy in God, and the sub- 
ject of it commences an eternal progress in holiness and hap- 
piness, and in all that adds dignity and worth to intelligent, 
immortal beings. 

In this description of the effects of an outpouring of the 
Spirit, I am aware, that I speak a language, which to some of 
my hearers may seem unintelligible and mystical. It is no 
wonder; for we are told that the natural man receiveth not 
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him ; 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discemed. 

But to you, my Christian brethren, who have good hope 
through grace, the language I have employed is, I am confi- 
dent, plain and intelligible. It is simply an expression of your 
own experience, in its main features, and of what has been 
witnessed in all ages of the world, since God began to gather a 
church from the ruins of the apostacy. All of our fallen race, 
who have been fitted for, and received into heaven, have been 
qualified for that world of holiness and bliss, by the renewing 
and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. In these latter days 
the Spii'it's influences have been granted in copious measure, 
and great multitudes, quickened by his mighty power, have 
been raised to a new spiritual life. And as the latter day glory 
of the Church approaches, these effusions of the Spirit will be 
more multiplied, extended and powerful, till a nation shall be 
born in a day. A mighty work is yet to be accomplished in 
our world. Human hearts, all over the earth, are to be re- 
newed by the Spirit of grace and filled with the love of God 
and Christ. Tliis is a work which the Holy Spirit alone is 



EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 149 

able to effect. Separate from his agency, means can accomplish 
nothing. Instruments may be multiplied and extended to any 
limit whatever ; the world may be filled with Bibles and mis- 
sionaries, and all the ordinary means of grace and salvation ; 
but they could not secure the conversion of a single soul ; nor 
fit a single one of all earth's perishing milhons for the service 
and kingdom of God. But when God shall pour out his spirit, 
as he has promised he will at some future day, the weakest in- 
struments will become mighty, and the feeblest means elfica- 
cious in producing the most glorious results. Sinners in vast 
crowds and all over the earth will simultaneously be awakened 
from the slumbers of death, look upon him whom they have 
pierced and mourn and be in bitterness as one is in bitterness 
for his first born. Great companies of pilgrims will be seen 
pressing towards the celestial city, and millions of prodigals 
will return to their father's house with joy and hope. These 
things must take place, must take place by the power of the 
Holy Spirit. No human strength is adequate to their accom- 
plishment. But what the weakness of man cannot do, the om- 
nipotence of the Holy Spirit can do ; and the time will 
assuredly come, when that Spirit shall pour out upon earth's 
inhabitants his awakening and converting influence in a copi- 
ousness and power never yet witnessed in our world. Then 
will the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field 
be counted for a forest, and the whole earth be filled with the 
knowledge of the Lord as the waters fill the seas. 
In review of this subject we may remark, 
1. That the effects of an outpouring of the Spirit are all of 
the most desirable and happy character. There are those, we 
are aware, who regard these effects with suspicion and dislike ; 
as the mere result of excited feeling, of enthusiasm and fanati- 
cism. But what is there in the effects which have been 
described that savors of enthusiasm, or which should awaken 
aversion in any rational, reflecting man ? Is there any thing 
incredible in the fact, that God by his Spirit should influence 
the minds of men, or that he should change their sinful hearts, 
and bring them to repentance, and thus prepare them for his 
service and kingdom ? And when you look at the process by 
which this change is effected, what is there in it, that should be 
viewed with unbehef or dishke; rather, what is there, that 
should not be viewed with devout admiration and thankfulness ? 
Is it not a thing greatly to be desired, that Christians should 



150 EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OP THE SPIRIT. 

possess a spirit of grace and supplication, and under the influ- 
ence of that spirit, abound in prayer and efforts for the salva- 
tion of their fellow men perishing in sin ? If they were to do 
this work more generally and fervently than they do, would it 
not tend greatly to the honor of Christ and the advancement of 
his cause ? Would it not be a happy thing if sinners in this 
place, and in all the places around, should be awakened from 
their fatal security to attend in earnest to the things of their 
eternal peace ? Would it not be a happy thing, if they should 
be convinced of their sin and danger, made to feel their de- 
pendence on God, and their need of his mercy, and finally be 
brought to trust in Christ and devote themselves to his service ? 
Would it not be matter of joy if the young should here come 
forward in crowds and give themselves to the Saviour ; if 
many parents, now living in neglect of this duty, should begin 
to pray in their families and train up their children for God ; 
and if persons of all classes and conditions in society, hitherto 
impenitent and godless, should be moved to think on their 
ways and turn their feet into the path of salvation ? Now 
these are precisely the effects of an outpouring of the Spirit ; 
the genuine fruits of that power which God exerts when he 
appears to revive his work and build up his kingdom ? And 
are they not of the most glorious and happy tendency ? What 
on earth can bear comparison with them in desirableness and 
importance ? Angels, we know, rejoice at beholding these fruits 
of the divine influence ; and all who call themselves Christians 
should prize them as the richest blessing God ever bestows on 
a lost world. The outpouring of the spirit and the results con- 
nected with it should be regarded by us as an object of supreme 
solicitude and of our most earnest prayers. 

O, what a blessed change would be effected in the midst of, 
and around us, if God should graciously pour out his spirit, and 
revive his work ? Every obstacle to the progress of truth and 
holiness would melt away and be gone ; new life and power 
would breathe through the devotions, and animate the prayers 
and efforts of the pious ; the deep slumbers of the impenitent 
would be broken ; the truth of God would make its way to the 
conscience and the heart, and there work repentance and salva- 
tion. The inquiry, what must I do to be saved, would be heard 
on every side ; the ways of Zion would no longer mourn, be- 
cause few come to her solemn feasts ; but would be thronged 
by happy converts, returning and coming to God with songs 



EFFECTS OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 151 

and everlasting joy upon their heads. O come the day, come 
the day, when this blessed vision shall be realized, not only 
here, but over all the land and throughout the world, and the 
whole earth be filled with the knowledge and glory of God. 

2. No evil can befall an individual or people so great, as the 
withdrawment from them of the Holy Spirit's influence. He 
may be resisted, he may be grieved, he may be quenched, as 
the Scriptures express it, so as to withdraw his influence and 
leave the soul in spiritual insensibility and deadness. And no 
evil is so much to be dreaded. It is as if the showers of 
heaven should cease to descend to water the earth ; universal 
famine and death would follow. It is as if the sun should 
cease his shining, and all the stars of heaven should withdraw 
their light ; — deep night and eternal winter would settle upon 
all the dwellings of men, and seal up all the springs of nature. 
So it is when the Holy Spirit retires ; every thing in the moral 
world droops and dies. The minds of men are sealed against 
all saving impressions of divine truth. Dead in trespasses and 
sins, they are alike indifferent to their duty and their danger. 
God and the soul, death and eternity, are lost sight of, amid the 
delusions of time, and mercies and judgments have no other 
effect, than to harden the heart, and fit the soul for ruin. Every 
■gradual suspension of divine influence speaks a vergency to 
death, and is at once visible in the decay of piety and of fruit- 
fulness in the church, and in spiritual stupidity and blindness 
among the impenitent. What then would be the consequence 
of a total withdrawment of the Holy Spirit's influence ? It 
would be death, death in its most terrible sense, death to every 
soul from whom he should thus withdraw. And yet who is 
afraid of falling under an evil like this ? Who is affected, who 
alarmed, when indications appear of the coming on of a moral 
dearth ; of the withdrawment of the awakening, converting, 
life giving influence of God's spirit ? Strange, strange that this 
greatest of all evils should awaken so little apprehension, 
should be so little felt and feared by those on whom it more 
immediately falls. Ah, my friends, it is one of the most fear- 
ful effects of this evil, that it takes away feeling, destroys all 
sense of danger, and leaves the soul in utter blindness and care- 
lessness, in regard to its spiritual and immortal interests. Let 
all then be most tenderly and watchfully solicitous, lest they 
grieve the Holy Spirit of God to leave them. Left of^him, 
you perish without hope, perish for eternity. Let every moni- 
14 



152 CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 

tion of the divine Spirit be regarded, every impression of his 
influence be cherished, every attraction of his grace obeyed. 
"When he speaks in the still small voice, which indicates his 
presence with the soul, every mind should be attent, and every 
thought and feeling yielded to the lessons of his teaching. And 
let all, who have access to the throne of grace, make it the 
burden of their prayers, that God would pour upon them and 
upon all around them the spirit of grace and supplication, that 
so his work may be revived and souls gathered unto glory, tro- 
phies of Christ's redeeming love, and of the Spirit's renewing 
power. 



SERMON XIY. 



CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 



John XV : 8. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; so 
shall ye be my disciples. 

These words were spoken by our Saviour in the last interview 
he had with his disciples, but a few hours previous to his suffer- 
ings in the garden and on the cross. He had now completed 
his public ministry; he had instituted the sacrament of the Sup- 
per, and partaken of that sacred ordinance with his followers, 
and in the upper room where they were assembled, and proba- 
bly while they were yet around the table, bearing the conse- 
crated symbols, he gave them his final instructions. His whole 
. discourse on that occasion was marked with deep and affecting 
interest. It breathes throughout a spirit of the utmost tender- 
ness and love; and no true Christian can read it without having 
his sympathies moved, and his love to his Saviour kindled afresh 
in his bosom. 

In the verses preceding the text our Lord speaks of himself 



CHRISTIAN FEUITFULNESS. 153 

as the true vine, and of his disciples as branches under the cul- 
ture of his Father, as the husbandman. He illustrates the ne- 
cessity of a vital union with him, and of a continual abiding in 
him in order to their bearing fruit. He assuies them that with- 
out him they can do nothing; and that if any are found unfruit- 
ful branches, they will be cast forth as fit only to be burned in 
the fire. He then tells them, as in our text, that while, by bear- 
ing much fruit, they would glorify God, their heavenly Father, 
they would, at the same time, prove themselves to be his true 
disciples. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much 
fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 

Christian fruitfulness, then, is the subject to which we are in- 
vited in the text ; and in illustrating it I shall — 

I. Show what is meant by Christian fruitfulness. 

II. Point out the means of promoting it; and — 

III. Urge the motives suggested in the text for bringing forth 
much fruit. 

I. Christian fruitfulness then consists in a visible exhibition 
of Christian feeling and Christian principle. I say visible ex- 
hibition; for though your heart were as tender as that of a child, 
and warm as that of a seraph, you bring forth no fruit unto 
God, unless your internal feelings, your devout and pious affec- 
tions are manifested in appropriate acts of obedience. Those 
who in ancient times retired from all connection with the world, 
and immured themselves in the cloister and the nunnery, may 
some of them have been persons of piety, but they were pre- 
vented, by the very circumstances of their condition, from bring- 
ing forth fruit unto God. The company of monks whom I saw 
in the convent of Elijah on Mount Carmel, in 1844, far removed 
from any people to whom they could do good, seemed to me but 
little better situated for being fruitful than if they had been ten- 
ants of the house of the dead. To be a fruitful Christian, it 
must be seen that you are a living, active Christian. There 
must be in your life and conversation a practical manifestation 
of the power of religion as it reigns in the inner man. Xou 
must stand forth, in the view of the world, a living illustration 
of the pure and holy gospel you profess ; and so let your light 
shine before men, that they shall see your good works and be 
led to glorify your Father in heaven. 

It is to be observed also, that Christian fruitfulness demands 
not only that we make our rehgion visible, but that we discharge, 
each one, with fidelity, the appropriate duties of our respective 



154 CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. \ 

Stations. I say appropriate duties; because if we neglect these 
and attempt to perform others that do not belong to us, or for 
which we are not qualified, we dishonor rather than glorify the 
name of God — just as the planets would, if they should quit 
their proper orbits and rush into spheres in which they were 
not appointed to move. As members of Christ's body all have 
their proper place and office, which they are required to fill to 
the glory of the great Head, and to the good of their fellow- 
members; and the most fruitful Christians are they who do this 
with the greatest fidelity and success. Or, to change the figure, 
Christians are all the servants of Jesus Christ, and each one 
has his proper work assigned him ; they are all soldiers of Jesus 
Christ, and each one has his post allotted him. Some are or- 
dained to serve as ministers, some as magistrates, some as heads 
of families, some as masters, some as servants. Some are rich, 
and are appointed to be the Lord's stewards, to honor him with 
their substance; some, in an inferior station, are called to serve 
him like Dorcas, by making coats and garments for the poor. 
But each one has his place, his proper post, and the duties of 
that place, whatever they be, are his proper work, in the dili- 
gent performance of which he is to 'bring forth fruit unto God. 
In this view of the subject it is obvious that none, on account 
of obscure and humble circumstances, are excluded from the 
honor and privilege of Christian fruitfulness. All persons, of 
whatever rank and condition in life, whether masters or serv- 
ants, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned — all have it in 
their power to bring forth fruit unto God. To do this you have 
only to consider what station God has called you to occupy, and 
faithfully discharge the duties of that station. The man who 
does this from a conscientious regard to the great Being who 
assigns the place and prescribes the duties of each one of his 
subjects, brings forth fruit to God, in whatever situation he is 
placed, and in the common labors of every day. He glorifies 
God and lays up treasure in heaven, not only on the Sabbath, 
but through the week; not only while he bows the knee in 
prayer, but while he is occupied in the common business of his 
calling; not only when he is rich, but when he is poor; not only 
in health, but in sickness; not only in life, but in death. 
Whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, doing all to 
the glory of God, he brings forth fruit to the honor of his name, 
and proves himself a true disciple of Christ. 

It seems also to be implied in the text that Christian fruitful 



CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 155 

ness, in order to glorify God, must be ahimdant. Herein is my 
Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. The glory of the 
husbandman, it has been truly said, does not arise from his fields 
or vines bearing fruit, but much fruit. A few ears of corn in 
the one nearly choked with weeds, or here and there a branch 
or berry on the other, much blighted and shriveled, rather dis- 
honors than honors him. Thus it is in Christian fruitfulness. 
A little religion in a professing Christian often dishonors God 
more than none. An indecisive halting between God and the 
world, walking upon the confines of good and evil, now seeming 
to be on the Lord's side, and now on the side of his adversaries, 
causes his name to be evil spoken of much more than the ex- 
cesses of the openly wicked. " The husbandman is not dishon- 
ored by the unfruitfiilness of a wild tree upon which he has be- 
stowed no culture, but the barrenness of what is planted in his 
garden or in his enclosed field, reflects on himself, and he will 
therefore cut it down, and cast it out as an incumbrance to his 
ground." Hence we may see the force of the rebuke addressed 
to the church of the Laodiceans — I know thy works, that thou 
art neither cold nor hot. So then because thou art lukewarm 
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 

Christian fruitfulness then implies three things ; a visible ex- 
hibition of Christian feeling and principle, a faithful discharge 
of the duties of our respective stations, and that we be distin- 
guished from the world around us by the fruit which we bring 
forth to the glory of God. 

II. With regard to the means of promoting Christian fruit- 
fulness, which was the second topic proposed to be considered, 
it may be asked, what are the means of fruitfulness in the com- 
mon business of husbandry? They are obviously a good soil, 
good seed, careful cultivation, together with the rain and sun- 
shine of heaven. Where these four things combine, the hus- 
bandman anticipates with certainty a plentiful harvest. 

Very analogous to this are the means of Christian fruitfulness. 

1. There is needed a good soil, by which I mean a good heart. 
This is indispensable. You do not expect a harvest from seed 
sown upon a rock, or amid the sands of the desert. And what 
but such a rock is the heart of man unsanctified by the grace 
of God? In its natural state it is a barren unfruitful soil; and 
never till it is softened and warmed into spiritual life by an in- 
fluence from above, will it yield any fruit that is pleasing to 
God. So our Saviour reasoned. Of thorns men do not gather 
14* 



156 CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 

figs, nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes. A good man 
out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which 
is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart 
bringeth forth that which is evil. Hence, in the verses preced- 
ing the text, under the beautiful similitude of a vine, vital union 
to Christ is asserted to be indispensable to Christian fruitfulness. 
Abide in me and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of 
itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye 
abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that 
abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, 
for without me ye can do nothing. Union with Christ then, in 
a spirit of penitence, faith and love, is the source of all Chris- 
tian fruitfulness. It is the animating principle of all holy obe- 
dience, infiising spiritual life and vigor into the soul, and quick- 
ening all its powers into activity for the glory of God. This, 
my brethren, is a point of great importance. We can never be 
fruitful unto God till our hearts are right with him ; no culture 
will make us fruitful till these are renewed by his grace, and 
brought into vital union with Christ. Until this is effected, all 
culture is like attempting to make plants grow that have no 
roots, or seed to bear a harvest that is sown on a rock. We see 
in our churches many unfruitful professors; trees that bear little 
else than leaves. The reason is they have no root in them- 
selves; their hearts are not right with God. Some of these 
professors, it can not be doubted, were never united to Christ 
by a living faith, and are only dead branches which the great 
Husbandman will, by and by, take away. Others, though per- 
haps Christians, bring forth but little fruit, because they have 
but little piety, but little of vital religion dwelling in them. The 
soil is not good; it is rocky and barren, or so overrun with 
weeds that the seed sown is either choked and does not spring 
up at all, or if it does, it brings forth no fruit unto perfection. 

2. Another thing essential to Christian fruitfulness is good 
seed; by which I mean the truths of God's word lodged in 
the mind by a just apprehension and cordial faith of them. 
These truths are to a good heart what good seed is -to a fertile 
soil — there can be no fruit without them. They are the sun 
that enlightens the mind, the rain that softens the heart; they 
are that divine seed by which the quickening spirit renews the 
soul and makes it fruitful unto God. As well might you expect 
a harvest of wheat from a field sowed with tares, as the fruits of 
righteousness from a mind vacant of religious truth, or filled 



CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 157 

with error. Doctrinal, experimental, and practical religion are 
all necessarily connected; they can not exist apart or separate 
from each other. The influence of truth, of God's truth, upon 
the mind, is the source or accession of all right spiritual feel- 
ings, and these feelings are the spring of every good word and 
action. Hence, the great importance which the sacred writers 
attach to a knowledge of the truth. Hence, their frequent and 
pressing exhortations to ministers to preach the truth, and to 
Christians to understand and believe the truth; to be rooted 
and gi'ounded in the truth ; to have the word of Christ dwell in 
them richly, and to grow in knowledge that they may grow in 
grace, and in meetness for heaven. . Learn then, my brethren, 
to place a high value on the truth of God; and if you would 
bear much fruit to the honor of his name, let that truth dwell 
in your hearts richly by faith. Open your minds to a full im- 
pression of that gospel which is the wisdom and power of God 
unto salvation. Be not satisfied with the mere elements of 
Christian knowledge; surround the soul, as it were, with the 
realities of God, of Christ, and of eternal things; bring them 
near, and live in them and by them, and they will be to you as 
the hand of God to guide and strengthen you in all duty, and 
make you fruitful in all good works. Divine truth, rightly 
understood and cordially believed, i» indeed the bread and water 
of life, by which the soul is nourished up to eternal glory, and 
with which, under a higher economy, the Lamb in the midst of 
the throne will feed his flock and replenish his elect during 
eternal ages. 

3. Careful cultivation is another thing essential to Christian 
fruitfulness. The farmer does not think it sufficient to prepare 
bis fields and sow them with good seed. He bestows on them 
unremitted cultivation, watches the growth of the future harvest 
through every stage of its progress — from the tender blade to 
the ear, and the full corn in the ear. So it must be in religion 
— in fruitfulness unto God. This is not a growth of chance. 
It does not spring from indolence, unwaichfulness, or careless- 
ness, much less from sinful conformity to the world, or deaden- 
ing absorption in its cares and pursuits. No ; it is the result of 
a tender, conscientious keeping of the heart in the love of God ; 
it is the growth of diligence and care in the use of such means 
as God has appointed for our advancement in the divine hfe, 
and final meetness for heaven. Whatever be the state of your 
heart at any given time, or however excellent the seed sown in- 



158 CHRISTIAN FEUITFULNESS. 

it, if you allow the cares, the riches and pleasures of the world 
to enter in and choke the word, no fruit will be brought forth to 
perfection. All will appear dwarfed and barren. It has been 
truly said that the grace of God in the heart of man is a tender 
plant in a strange, unkindly soil, and can not pros{)er and grow 
without much care and painstaking, and that from a skillful 
hand, that has the art of cherishing it. An unwatchful, care- 
less, worldly manner of life is ruin to the spiritual welfare of 
the soul; it sheds the blight of death upon all the fruits of 
righteousness. Settle it, as a fact attested by all experience, 
that you can be fruitful Christians only as you make progress 
in personal religion an object of supreme desire and unwearied 
attention. It must be with you as with the Apostle, the one 
thing after which you shall earnestly and assiduously strive. 
Whatever hindrances you find in your way must be thrown 
aside, and fixing y5ur eye upon the goal, press steadily forward 
for the prize of your high calling. If your heart be divided 
between God and the world; if religion be with you a large 
business, to be attended to or neglected, as is found convenient, 
you may indeed bear the Christian name, but not the fruits of 
Christian living; and no honor to God or good to your fellow- 
men can be expected to result from your example. 

4. It is to be added, that, as in the natural world rain and 
sunshine are necessary to render the means of fruitfulness suc- 
cessful; so in the moral world, the influences of the Holy 
Spirit are essential to render the means of grace effectual in 
promoting Christian fruitfulness. The most careful labors of 
the husbandman cannot avail to produce a single ear of corn or 
blade of grass. After all his endeavors, he is dependent on the 
blessing of God to give success to his labors. The same is 
true in things spiritual. Means of themselves have no efficacy 
to produce spiritual life, or Christian fruitfulness. Paul may 
plant, and Apollos water, but it is God who giveth the increase. 
Here comes in the necessity of prayer ; and a beautiful 
arrangement it is, which connects our endeavors to grow in 
Christian fruitfulness with dependence on help from God; so lay- 
ing us under a kind of blessed necessity to seek that help in prayer. 
It is an arrangement which at once combines our activity and 
our dependence ; which summons us to abound in the work of 
the Lord and encourages us to do so, by the assurance that our 
labor shall not be in vain ; which bids us work and pray at the 
same time, and thus bringing us near to God, and keeping us 



CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 159 

always mindful of our need of his aid ; it humbles our pride, 
while it inspires our diligence, and sets us to working out our 
salvation with all humility and reverence, while we know that 
it is God 'who worketh in us both to will and to do of his 
good pleasure. 

If then, you would be fruitful Christians, four things are in- 
dispensably necessary, — a principle of true piety, or the love of 
God in the heart ; clear and just views of divine truth ; a dili- 
gent use of means to keep alive in the soul the spirit of reli- 
gion, and the influences of the Holy spirit to be obtained by 
prayer, and a humble walk with God. Let us advert, 

III. To the motives suggested in the text for bearing much 
fruit. These are the glory of God, and the evidence which 
such fruitfulness affords of discipleship. Herein is my Father 
glorified, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye he my disciples. 

1. In the first place then, by bearing much fruit you glorify 
God, your heavenly Father. As the works of creation are 
said to show forth the glory of the Lord, because they illustrate 
his perfections exerted in their formation ; so his rational crea- 
tures glorify him, when his moral image, or some resemblance 
of his moral excellence is discerned upon their hearts, and 
manifested in their lives. In this sense every Christian, how- 
ever humble his station, or circumscribed his sphere of action, 
may attain to the high privilege and honor of glorifying God 
his Maker. And you will do this just in proportion as you in- 
crease in Christian fruitfulness ; just in proportion as you mani- 
fest, in a holy, unblamable conversation, the power and excel- 
lence of true religion. And how weighty a consideration it is, 
that creatures like us may be instrumental in promoting the 
glory of the great God: — may honor his name, and show forth 
his praise in the view of all who behold us ? This is the work 
of angels, and of the redeemed in heaven ; and how should it 
kindle our love, and animate our devotion, and quicken our 
obedience, to reflect that in glorifying God we become associa- 
ted with angels and redeemed spirits above, in this highest 
and noblest work which engages their hearts ? Is it the duty 
and privilege of a child to honor his earthly parent ? How 
much more is it our privilege and duty as Christians to honor 
and glorify the great Parent of all ? It is an affecting obser- 
vation of a late writer, that we are placed here, as it were, on 
a theatre, and act in the immediate view of our King and 
Judge. Yea, he has in a manner entrusted us with his glory, 



160 CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS. 

and called the world to look on, and take notice of us, as the 
persons by whom he expects to be honored. 

Professed disciples of Jesus, if you take a just view of your 
character and obligations, you will regard yourselves, in a most 
important sense, as representatives of the divine Majesty among 
your fellow men. Their eyes are upon you, and they will form 
their opinion of the religion you profess, and of the God you 
adore, very much from the conduct you exhibit from day to day. 
Ever bear this in mind. According to your measure, you are, 
each one, entrusted with the glory of God ; that glory you may 
tarnish or illustrate, may obscure or render more conspicuous 
by your manner of life and conversation ; and according as 
you do the one or the other, so will religion be honored or dis- 
graced ; and the name of your Father in heaven be glorified 
or covered with reproach, in the view of your fellow men. 
The professor of rehgion who is not moved by this considera- 
tion, to circumspection and w^atchfulness over his heart and life, 
has gone beyond the reach of all ordinary motives, and can 
have little prospect of being owned as a disciple of Christ at 
the final day. 

2. By bearing much fruit, you prove to yourselves and to 
others the reality of your professed discipleship. The question 
is often asked, how may I know that I am a Christian ? I 
know of but one answer that can be safely given to this in- 
quiry ; and that is, by bearing fruit to the glory- of God. Cer- 
tainly, in the absence of such fruitfulness, all other evidence is 
worthless, and if relied upon, will, in the end, bring disappoint- 
ment and ruin to the soul. Be not deceived, plants of our 
heavenly Father's planting will bear fruit ; and this is the cer- 
tain sign that they are of his planting. 

You see a tree in the season of winter, stript of its leaves 
and fruit, and you find it difficult to decide what tree it is. But 
look at it when it is covered with foliage, and loaded with fruit, 
and you are at no loss for a moment, on the subject. Just so, 
in judging of your own character, — if your life be vacant of 
Christian fruitfulness ; springing from piety, faith, watchfulness, 
prayer and the like, you can have no means of knowing that 
you are a Christian ; nay, you ought, in such a case, to con- 
clude that you are not a Christian; and any hope you have 
that you are one should be thrown away as deceptive ^nd 
worthless. But if. on the other hand you do bear fruit unto 
God ; do strive to honor his name, and live to his glory, as the 



CHRISTIAN PRUITFULNESS. 161 

chief end and aim of your being, you will need no revelation 
from heaven to convince you that your name is in the book of 
life ; you will have the witness in yourself, and the evidence of 
jour discipleship will be so clear as to dispel all doubt, and 
give you the peace of an assured hope. 

In this way too, you will prove to others that you are disci- 
ples of Christ. While you manifest in your life and conversa- 
tion the fruits of true religion ; while you hold forth the word 
of life, are conscientious in your duties and strive to live so as 
to honor God your Saviour, the world will take knowledge of 
you that you have been with Jesus ; they will admit your claim 
to the Christian character, and be ready to confess, that how- 
ever it may be with others, you are indeed what you profess to 
be — disciples of Christ, and heirs of heaven. And consider, 
how important it is, that the world should have this decisive 
testimony of a fruitful Christian life, to convince them of the 
reality and importance of religion. If those who profess reli- 
gion were to live as becometh the disciples of the Saviour, it 
would do more to convince the skeptical, to silence the cavilling 
and to rouse the impenitent to serious thoughtfulness on the 
subject of religion, than the most elaborate argument, than the 
plainest and most scriptural preaching. But as it now is, our 
arguments, with many, go for nothing; our preaching for 
nothing; for they turn upon us and say, see how your 
Christians live, as worldly as others, as careless as others, as 
vain, as light-minded and pleasure loving as others. This quiets 
the consciences of thousands in their sins, and makes for them a 
smooth way to destruction. 

I only add, that while you bear much fruit, Christ himself 
will acknowledge you to be his disciples. He will acknowl- 
edge this in giving you present peace, and joy, and hope; he 
will acknowledge this in bestowing upon you a constant in- 
crease of all the graces and comforts of religion; he will 
acknowledge this by communing with you in his word and 
ordinances, and making therh refreshing and quickening to 
your souls ; he will acknowledge this in affording you his di- 
vine aid in all your duties ; divine guidance in all scenes of 
difficulty and trial ; divine support in the hour of death, and an 
abundant entrance into his kingdom above ; where he will 
openly acknowledge you as his friends and followers, before his 
Father and the holy angels, and crown you with the glories of 
immortality. There in the world of light and blessedness, 
every sincere, fruitful Christian will reap a full and most gra- 



162 THE GOODNESS OF GOD 

cious reward for all the services performed for Christ here on 
earth. Fruit borne to the glory of God here, will be con- 
verted into elements of immortal life in heaven, and will 
redound to the soul's blessedness during the endless ages of its 
future being. 



SERMON XY. 

THE GOODNESS OF GOD A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE. 

Romans ii: 4, — the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. 

That is, — this is its tendency, this is its design ; and when- 
ever it fails of this result, the fault is not in the goodness of God, 
but in the sinner's own heart. To show this, I would observe, 

1. In the first place, that there is much in the very nature 
of divine goodness that is fitted to lead men to repentance. It 
lays them and all intelligent beings in the universe, under ever- 
lasting obligations to love and serve God, the great Author of 
their being and of their mercies. It shows also, in a very affecting 
light, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, as committed against the 
greatest and best of beings, our Father and our God; and 
while in its long suffering and forbearance it gives assurance of 
his readiness to pardon all who repent, it appeals in the most 
direct and persuasive manner to every faculty and feeling of 
the soul, in order to secure this result. The language of God's 
goodness to every sinner is, — What provocation hast thou to. 
sin so against thy God, and refuse to hearken to his voice of 
love and salvation? Is he not thy Father, the Author of thy 
being and the Giver of thy blessings? Is it not he that hath 
kept thee alive till this hour; that has renewed his mercies 
toward thee every morning and made them fresh every even- 
ing, and is even now, after all thy ingratitude, waiting to wel- 



A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE. 163 

come thy return to his love and make thee a partaker of the 
eternal joys of his kingdom ? See how the manifestations of 
God's goodness come to thee in every form; in the sunlight and 
air; in food and raiment and home; in friends and liberty and 
protection; in health, peace and plenty; in the gospel of Christ 
and the offers of life, — all conspiring to call thee to duty and 
heaven, and to show the ingratitude and wickedness of casting 
from thee, the fear and service of so great and so glorious a 
Being. 

In this manner does the goodness of God make its appeal 
to the heart of every one of us, urging all to repent and live. 
It appeals to our reason; and the verdict is that to sin against 
such a Being as God, is a deep debasement of our nature, and 
a most guilty perversion of the noble faculties with which he 
has endowed us. It appeals to our sense of duty; and the ver- 
dict is that iio obligation is so strong as that which binds us to 
the love and service of Jehovah, and no guilt so great as that 
of violating such obligation and refusing to repent. It appeals 
to our gratitude; and the verdict is that to slight such goodness 
as God is daily manifesting, indicates a heart dead to every 
right feeling and to every grateful, emotion. It appeals to our 
hopes and fears; and the verdict is that no good can be secured 
so great as that which flows from repentance toward God and 
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and no evil incurred so 
tremendous as that which must result from continued impeni- 
tence and rejection' of offered mercy. These appeals, addressed 
by infinite goodness to all the sensibilities of the heart, and fac- 
ulties of the mind, constitute a motive to repentance the most 
powerful of which we can form any conception. 

No appeal, we are sensible, can be made to a disobedient 
child so tender and moving as that which springs from the 
kindness of a parent's heart. Go to such a child and tell him 
there is no just cause for the course of conduct he is pursuing; 
tell him that the parent against whom he is rebelling feels 
towards him only kindness and love, and is even now waiting 
and longing to welcome back to his bosom this one of his fam- 
ily who has done so much to alienate his affections, and if the 
appeal does not touch his heart and cause him to return to 
duty, you feel at once that no motive can reach his case. But 
what is the goodness of the kindest earthly parent, compared 
with the goodness of Him who is the Father of us all? His 
very nature is goodness ; and that goodness, in all its riches and 
15 



164 THE GOODNESS OF GOD 

forbearance and long suffering, is incessantly poured upon the 
heart of rebellious man to lead him to repentance. 

There is too a peculiarity in the mode in which divine good- 
ness flows to guilty man, which adds inexpressibly to its tender, 
persuasive power. It is not goodness flowing to innocent 
beings through the unobstructed channels of benevolence; but 
goodness flowing to lost sinners, through the mediation and suf- 
fering of the Son of God. our Saviour; goodness pressing its 
claims and pleading for the life of the soul by the love of 
the eternal Father, by the compassion of the dying Redeemer, 
by the deep sorrows of the garden and the deeper sorrows of 
the cross. Here is goodness such as was never manifested in 
any world but ours, nor towards any other beings but the lost 
children of men. No wonder that angels desire to look into 
this new discovery of the divine goodness ; no wonder that they 
rejoice to witness its triumphs in the salvation of repenting 
sinners; the only wonder is that all, to whom it is made known, 
are not melted and subdued by it, and brought to adore and 
love that goodness of God which moved him to give his Son to 
die for lost men that they naight repent and be saved. 

2. The goodness of God is suited to lead men to repentance, 
as it secures for them a respite from punishment and gives a 
space for repentance. This is expressly asssigned in the Bible 
as the reason why God spares sinners in this \^orld of mercy, 
and follows them from year to year with the calls of his love. 
He waits to be gracious, is long suffering toward us, because 
he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance. Why else does God prolong the lives of 
those who daily trample on his authority and despise his good- 
ness? He is able to punish and they deserve to be punished. 
If every sinner were immediately cut off from hope, and to 
have executed upon him the penalty of the violated law, God 
would be just, and a holy universe would approve his conduct. 
And yet he bears long with the ungrateful neglecters of his 
grace; year after year he keeps back the stroke of justice, 
lengthens out their probation and follows them still with the 
offers of pardon, all the fruits of unmerited goodness, and all to 
give them a space for repentance. And what motive to repent- 
ance more persuasive than this forbearance of a long suffering 
and gracious God towards those who requite him only with evil 
for good? It shows not only that he is willing, but earnestly 
desirous, that the sinner should turn and live. Every hour is 



A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE. 165 

a fresh respite from deserved punishment, and a fresh call to 
repentance and salvation. Every evening and every morning, 
as you lie down and rise up, as you go out and come in, the 
divine goodness meets you with a renewed reprieve from your 
Sovereign, and with renewed offers of pardon and life. Every 
Sabbath, as its sacred light dawns and invites you to the sanc- 
tuary, repeats the calls to repentance, and enforces those calls 
by assurances that God is still waiting to be gracious, and ready 
to pardon and save all who turn unto him. Your appearance 
here to day, the subject on which I am addressing you, and 
all the circumstances of mercy by which you are surrounded, 
are but so many expressions of God's goodness and forbearance 
towards you that you may repent and live. 

3. The goodness of God leads to repentance, as it has 
opened a way in which repentance is available to secure par- 
don and life for even the chief of sinners. If Christ our 
Saviour, had not interposed in our behalf, and by his atoning 
death opened a way whereby God can be just and yet justify 
him that belie veth in Jesus, the unwelcome call to repentance 
had never fallen upon the ear of reluctant sinners, but every 
rebel had been left to perpetual impenitence and to endless 
punishment as its just desert. But now in Christ Jesus God is 
reconciling the world to himself. In his infinite goodness 
he so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever belie veth in him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life. On the broad ground of an atonement thus 
made for the, sins of men, all are invited to come unto God ; 
and though burdened with guilt, deep as that of Manasseh, or 
Saul of Tarsus, they have assurance that, coming penitent and 
believing, they shall obtain mercy and complete salvation. 
The condition of pardon is, not that you work out a perfect 
righteousness of your own, not that you make an atonement 
for your sins, or merit forgiveness by your own doings, but 
but that you repent, exercise true sorrow for sin, forsake it, and 
look to God for mercy through Christ. And what motive to 
repentance stronger than this ? The door of your prison house 
is thrown open, every obstacle to your coming forth is taken 
out of the way, and God in mercy meets you with his calls of 
love and bids you welcome, on condition of repentance, to all 
the privileges and hopes of children. No past sins form any 
barrier in. the way of your access to God. His goodness, man- 
ifested in the gift of his son, has broken down every wall of 



166 THE GOODNESS OF GOD 

separation, and bids you, however poor, helpless or guilty, to 
come boldly to the throne, that you may obtain mercy and find 
grace to help in time of need. It is, as if divine goodness, 
taking you by the hand, and leading you aside, should say — - 
Come now, and let us reason together ; though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be as wool. Behold the door of 
mercy is set open before you, and God is waiting to hear the 
first sigh of repentance, to witness the first tear of contrition, 
that he may speak peace to your soul and pour into your bo- 
som the joys of his salvation. !No depth of guilt need exclude 
you from his favor. With him is plenteous redemption. No 
one coming to him was ever sent empty away. It is only to 
look and live, — it is only to kneel at the cross and penitently 
ask for mercy. O, admire the patience, adore the love and ac- 
cept the grace of your long suffering God. Arise, as did the 
prodigal, and go to your Father ; and while yet afar off, he will 
meet you with his love, and pardon and bless you with the 
privileges of his redeemed and happy family. 

ladd— 

4. The goodness of God is fitted to lead to repentance, as it 
furnishes the best possible means of repentance, and the most 
powerful motives to this duty. Some of these have already 
been mentioned ; but they demand', in this place, a more dis- 
tinct consideration. What but a means of bringing to repent- 
ance is that direct and solemn appeal which the goodness of 
God is constantly making to all the sensibilities and faculties of 
the soul? What but a means of repentance is that forbear- 
ance and long suffering of God, which stays the stroke of jus- 
tice, and prolongs the sinner's existence in this world of hope 
and salvation ? And what but a means to the same end is that 
love of God which gave his Son to die for you, and now ex- 
tends the offer of a free and full pardon, on the one condition, 
that you confess your transgressions, be sorry for your sins and. 
accept of his mercy through Christ ? 

But let us notice some other means and motives which God, 
in his goodness, has furnished for the same great end. Con- 
sider then the ample and impressive instruction poured around 
you from the word, the providence and the works of God. All 
these conspire to impress on your mind the same lessons of 
eternal wisdom and love. They unfold to your vie"v^ the per- 
fections and way^ of the Great Eternal ; they make you ac- 



A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE. 167 

quainted with his law and gospel, with your own character, and 
state, and prospects as sinners, and the terms on which alone 
you can obtain the pardoning mercy of God. The volume of 
creation, of providence and revelation lie spread out before you, 
inscribed by the handwriting of heaven and designed to make 
you ever mindful of your God and King, and guide you to 
irtimortal life. Each illustrates and confirms the other, and all 
unite in pressing upon you the duty of making the eternal God 
your friend, and of seeking everlasting happiness in his king- 
dom. 

Notice next the invitations of divine goodness. These 
meet the eye on almost every page of the inspired word, and 
coming as they do from the lips of eternal love, it would seem 
as if they must avail to melt and subdue every heart that is not 
a heart of stone. Come unto me all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden and I will give you rest. Look unto me and be 
ye saved all the ends of the earth. Ho, every obe that thirst- 
eth, come ye to the waters. Whosoever will, let him take the 
waters of life freely. To give the greater effect to these calls 
of heavenly mercy, the Bible abounds with the most alarming 
warnings to those who go on still in their trespasses. If I 
whet my glittering sword and my hand take hold on judgment, 
I will render vengence to mine enemies and reward them that 
hate me. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, 
shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Because 
I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and 
no man regarded it ; but ye have set at naught all my counsel 
and would none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calam- 
ity and mock when your fear cometh. 

Turn next to the promises which divine goodness has made 
to those that repent, — promises of pardon, grace and eternal 
glory, — ^pardon for all sin and the deepest guilt; grace to sanc- 
tify, to sustain, to comfort and bless with all needed good in 
this life, and with eternal glory in the presence of God and the 
Lamb ; joys, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the 
heart of man conceived, — the sure inheritance of all that re- 
pent and turn unto the Lord. 

Nor does the goodness of God stop here. It meets the sin- 
ner, as we have seen, on his entrance into life, and follows him 
at every step of his earthly journey, loading him continually 
with its tokens of kindness and forbearance and striving to win 
him to duty and heaven. But seeing him bent on his sins, it 
15* 



168 THE GOODNESS OF GOD 

lifts the covering from the pit toward which he is going and 
shows him the awful punishments prepared for them that make 
light of proffered mercy. It is divine goodness, I say, that 
makes this discovery of coming wrath. Its voice of warning 
may fall an unwelcome sound on the ear, and you may wish it 
were silent ; but still it is the voice of compassion, telling you 
of danger ahead, and urging your flight. The most fearful 
threatenings of the Bible bespeak the goodne^ of God, not less 
really than his kindest promises. The object in both cases is 
the same ; to bring you to repentance and secure your salva- 
tion. God, in mercy, waves the rod because he is unwilling to 
strike. The wrath made known is wrath to come. It lingers 
long, and signals of its approach are held out that you may 
take the alarm and flee to the ark of safety. It is mercy that 
now speaks to you of hell ; it is justice that will hereafter 
inflict its dreadful torments on those whom mercy could not 
reclaim from the ways of sin and death. The warnings 
of hell are to turn you back from the path that leads thither ; 
you are bidden to look to its dark regions and formidable fires, 
that you go not to that place of torment, and there take up 
your final abode. Such then, being the design and tendency of 
the goodness of God, let us inquire, in conclusion, what are its 
actual effects. 

1. All who truly love God feel the constraining power of 
his goodness, and by it are made penitent, believing, thankful, 
and obedient. They have eyes to see, and hearts to feel the 
manifestations of Gcd's goodness to them and a lost world. 
They gratefully recognize his patience and long suffering 
toward them, while they lived in sin and estrangement from 
him ; they magnify his love in the gift of a Saviour ; praise 
him for his rich mercy in calling them to repentance and life, 
and as they view themselves every-day, and every-where 
surrounded by the demonstrations of the goodness of God, they 
are attracted with grateful hearts to him, the exhaustless source 
of all good, and exclaim with the Psalmist — What shall I ren- 
der unto the Lord for all his benefits. This, my brethren, 
is the feeling that dwells in your bosoms, if indeed you have 
tasted that the Lord is good and gracious. It is a feeling of 
mingled penitence and love, of humility and gratitude, of joy 
and trust and hope, and the effect is to draw you nearer to God 
and bind you closer to his throne and service. Cultivate and 
strengthen this feeling, it is a feeling naturally inspired by the 
goodness of God, and well becoming sinners redeemed from 



A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE. 169 

death and hell, and by his grace, made the children of his love 
and heirs of immortal life. And remember, if divine goodness 
has already done so much for you, it will do more ; if it has 
begun to save, it will carry on the work unto perfection ; will 
guide, guard, protect and bless you in all your earthly journey ; 
and finally raise you to everlasticg blessedness in his kingdom. 

2. There is another class of persons whom the goodness of 
God appears to leave wholly unaffected and unmoved. Are 
there not some of my hearers who are constrained to admit the 
truth of this from experience ? To say that the goodness of 
God has not led you to repentance, is to say only what you con- 
fess to be true, and what is apparent to all. Has it even at- 
tracted your attention, or drawn forth any grateful recognition 
of the Great Author of all good ? God, my friends, has been 
doing you good ever since you have been in the world ; he 
watched over your infancy, protected your youth, and crowned 
your riper years with innumerable blessings ; his mercies to 
you have been new every morning and fresh every evening ; 
great has been his goodness toward you. What returns now 
have you made to him, your great Creator and Benefactor ? 
Have you felt your ever-growing obhgations ; have you traced 
your blessings to his munificent hand ; realized them to be so 
many calls to repentance, and by them have you been turned 
away from your sins and made humble, grateful, obedient. 
Must not conscience constrain many of you to confess before 
God, that his goodness has produced upon your heart no such 
effect ; has indeed fallen as rain upon a rock, without impres- 
sion, and without fruit ? You may have been glad when di- 
vine blessings have been showered upon you ; but have you 
been thankful, thankful to God ? Look back upon the past 
week and consider how you began and closed each one of its 
days, — you rose in the morning without thinkin|^)f God, your 
Preserver ; you went about the business of the day without any 
practical sense of his presence, and you laid down at night 
without any thankful recognition of the goodness that holds you 
in lifie, and gives you all the blessings you enjoy. 

So you spent the last week, — every day found and left you 
unthankful, — casting off fear, and restraining prayer before 
God ; and is it not a fair specimen of the manner in which 
some of you have spent the whole of your past life ? Has not 
each day, and month, and year, as it has come to you loaded 
with God's goodness, found and left you impenitent and pray- 



170 THE GOODNESS OF GOD 

erless ? — never seriously thinking of the great design of God 
in his long-suffering and kindness toward you, scarcely admit- 
ing perhaps, that yon are a sinner, never coming before your 
Maker and Judge, humbly confessing your sins and seeking his 
pardoning mercy. Is not this to despise the riches of God's 
goodness, and with singular rapidity to treasure up wrath 
against the day of wrath ? 

3. There is another class, who go still further, and take en- 
couragement from the goodness of God, to sin against him with 
an increased freedom and boldness. This is eminently to des- 
pise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long- 
suffering. God spares the guilty that they may have a space 
for repentance, and they employ the respite given them to mul- 
tiply their provocations and cast new insults upon their Maker. 
Because God is slow to punish, they presume he never will 
punish. Because he waits to be gracious, they turn his pa- 
tience into an occasion of sin. Because sentence against an 
evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the 
sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Are none of my 
hearers chargeable with this abuse of divine goodness ? Why 
is it, let me ask, that you defer from day to day, and from year 
to year, the great work of repentance ? Is it not because you 
presume that the goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering 
of God will yet be continued to you? God, you say, is merci- 
ful; he is long-suffering and abundant in goodness; full of 
mercies and loving .kindnesses, and has no pleasure in the 
death of sinners. True, very true. But what then? Why, I 
will abuse that mercy, I will weary that long suffering, I will 
despise that goodness, and go on to sin more and more against 
my Creator and Redeemer; my Benefactor and Sovereign. 
Does such a purpose expressed in language shock your feel- 
ings? But JlHexpressing a purpose in words worse than cher- 
ishing it in the heart, and acting it out in the life? Go, impen- 
itent, prayerless hearer, whoever you may be, as you retire 
from the sanctuary, go alone in your chamber, and there, before 
God, express in language the feelings of your heart, and the 
conduct of your life, — Lord, thou art good and compassionate 
and long-suffering; and therefore I am encouraged to cast off 
fear and restrain prayer before thee. Thou waitest with much 
patience and forbearance, that sinners may turn and live ; I am, 
therefore, resolved to go on in my sins, and live as I please. 
You tremble a,t the thought of uttering such language before 



A PERSUASIVE TO REPENTANCE. 171 

God, and perhaps blame me for uttering it in discourse. And 
yet, I ask you, what else is the language of the heart and life 
of every impenitent sinner, who, because God is good and does 
not come forth to execute punishment speedily, delays repent- 
ance, and goes on still in his trespasses. Dear hearer, look at 
the case and see if it is not yours. Is it not presumption on 
the goodness of God that makes you so inattentive to his calls ; 
so secure in your sins ; so ready to put off repentance to a fu- 
ture period ? 

I must add in conclusion, 

4. Those who continue to abuse the riches of God's good- 
ness, will finally perish under an aggravated condemnation. 
This, we at once perceive, is just; and the scriptures make it 
certain. Great as is the patience of God, a time is coming when 
it will give place to wrath. And this wrath will be the more 
terrible for the rich mercy that preceded it and was abused. 
When patience has performed her appointed work, she will re- 
tire from the scene, and justice will ascend the throne, and 
triumph in the destruction of those whom mercy could not re- 
claim. Mark the connection of the text, — Despisest thou the 
riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering ; not 
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ; 
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto 
thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the 
righteous judgment of God? There is then a treasury of 
wrath, for despisers of divine goodness ; and day by day, and 
hour by hour, the unrepenting sinner is casting into it. "When 
will it be full? When will you have reached the utmost limit 
of divine forbearance ? Who shall say whether you are not 
now treading that limit, and that, deferring repentance beyond 
this hour, you shall not be forsaken of mercy, and left to per- 
petual impenitence and hardness of heart? It is indeed a high 
privilege to live in the midst of the goodness and mercy that 
distinguish your lot. But there is a responsibility connected 
with it which may well make you tremble. It will be dread- 
ful to perish in any case ; but most dreadful of all to perish 
amid light and privilege ; amid the displays of the divine good- 
ness and the means and mercies that you enjoy, and that are 
fitted and designed to bring you to repentance and salvation. 
Others hear the voice of God and turn to him and live. Let 
his goodness have the same effect on you. Let his patience 
and long-suffering draw you to his throne in. penitence and 



172 FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 

faith, and bind you forever to his service and kingdom. This 
is right, is good, is happy. But the opposite of this is sin, 
is misery, is everlasting death. You cannot neglect or abuse 
the goodness of God, turning it into an occasion of continual 
impenitence and sin, but with infinite guilt. If that goodness 
does not bring you to repentance, it will harden you in impeni- 
tence ; if it does not bring you to God, and prepare you for 
heaven, it will exclude you from God, and bring upon you an 
aggravated condemnation. Which shall it be ? What the 
issue of those blessings that distinguish your lot ? The good- 
ness of God now surrounds you on every side ; his mercy 
meets you here to-day, and calls you to pardon and life. Will 
you recognize that goodness in repentance of sin ; will you 
hear those calls of mercy and live ? Happy, thrice happy the 
man who is melted into contrition by the goodness of God; 
who sees and mourns over the evil of sinning against so great 
and good a Being as is the Creator and Parent of all, and so is 
pardoned and accepted of him, and sealed an heir of eternal 
life. 



SEHMON XVI 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 

Acts xiii: 88, 39. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that 
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him 
all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justi- 
fied by the law of Moses. 

• To us, the immortal and aiccountable subjects of the divine gov- 
ernment, no question is of deeper interest than how can man be 
just with God; how can we, sinners as we are, obtain pardon 
and acceptance with the Lord our Maker and final Judge? In 
the days of health and joyousness, and amid the fascinations 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 173 

and delusions of earth and time, an inquiry of this kind may 
rarely occur to the mind; or, occurring, may be disposed of in 
an easy, careless manner, as if we had no personal concern in 
it. But it becomes us to remember that the scenes which are 
now so engrossing to us will quickly pass away, and that a time 
is coming when the inquiry under consideration will take the 
precedence of every other, and press upon the soul in all the 
weight and solemnity of a present eternity. In the assurance 
of the coming of such a day, let us bend our attention to the 
subject before us; and may the spirit of all grace guide us to 
such results as will abide the decisions of the final judgment. 
In illustrating the truth set before us in the text, I shall, 

I. Show that being sinners, it is impossible to obtain justifica- 
tion or forgiveness by the law, or by any doings of our own. 

II. What is thus unattainable by any efforts of our own is 
mercifully provided for us in the atonement of Christ, and is 
freely offered to our acceptance. 

III. It is a matter of infinite importance that both these facts 
should be fully understood and cordially believed by each one 
of us. 

I. As sinners, we all need pardon or justification from God. 
How is it to be obtained? Our text asserts that it can not be 
by the law of Moses, or by any doings of our own. This is 
the uniform testimony of the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul, 
having in his Epistle to the Romans, established the fact that 
all men, both Jews and Gentiles, are under sin, brings out the 
emphatic conclusion — 'therefore by the deeds of the law there 
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. In the succeeding verses 
he connects this conclusion with the fact that the method of justi- 
fication appointed by God is by faith in Christ's blood, or in 
his atoning sacrifice, and this he everywhere sets in direct op- 
position to justification by works. His reasoning is this. For 
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justi- 
fied freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in 
Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, 
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the 
remission of sins that are passed, through the forbearance ■ of 
God, that he might be just and the justifier of him that believ- 
eth In Jesus. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by 
faith without, or in distinction from the works of the law. 

In the Epistle to the Galatians he pursues the same train of 
reasoning and comes to the same conclusion. (Gal. 2: 10.) 



174 FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, 
but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus 
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not 
by the "works of the law ; for by the works of the law shall no 
flesh be justified. This truth he regards of such vital import- 
ance to the Christian system, that he directly asserts in one 
place, that if righteousness, that is, justification, can be had by 
the law, then Christ died in vain, the whole system of salvation 
by grace is set aside, and the gift of Christ, with all he did and 
suffered for our redemption, is null and void. Such is the in- 
spired testimony on this subject. 

Let us take another view of it. We and all men are sinners, 
transgressors of that law, holy, just, and good, under which it 
has pleased God to place us, and as transgressors we have in- 
curred its righteous penalty. This holds true of every son and 
daughter of Adam. All have sinned; and all, according to the 
tenor of the law, are condemned, and the wrath of God abideth 
on them. In what way now can we hope for deliverance from 
this state of guilt and condemnation? We have seen how the 
Scriptures answer this question — by the deeds of the law no 
flesh can be justified. Can reason suggest any other answer? 
Let the fact that we are sinners against God, and under the 
condemnation of his righteous law press with due weight upon 
the conscience, and then ask how we can obtain forgiveness; 
how be reconciled to our God and Judge ? Can we expect this 
on the score of merit? Can we, sinful, self-ruined creatures, 
presume to make mention of merit in the presence of a just 
and holy God? What did we ever do, what can we ever do, 
which we can plead as a ground of forgiveness before God? 
Is it possible for us, bound as we are by the very law of our 
being, as well as by the revealed law of heaven, to love and 
serve the Lord our God at all times and in all circumstances, 
to the full extent of our powers — is it possible for us to perform 
works of supererogation, or acquire, by our services, a surplusage 
of merit which we can plead in arrest of judgment, or present 
as a ground of pardon for off^enses committed against the great 
Lawgiver and Ruler of the world ? Can doing our duty at one 
time be an excuse for neglecting it at another ; or can one act 
of obedience be accepted as an atonement for another act of 
disobedience? No, my friends, this is impossible. Having 
sinned against God, broken his holy law, the guilt and the con- 
demnation of sin must always lie upon us, unless it be removed 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 175 

by an act of sovereign mercy extended to us through the merits 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor let any deceive themselves by 
imagining that if they disregard this way of salvation, God will 
lower the demands of his law, or accept of an imperfect obedi- 
ence, or pardon and save them on some other conditions than 
those revealed in the gospel. Here it is that careless men are 
continually deceiving themselves to their eternal ruin. They 
admit the fact that they are sinners against God and condemned 
by the law ; but then, instead of fleeing to the atoning blood of 
Christ, as furnishing the only ground of justification before 
God, they flatter themselves in the hope that he will not be 
strict to exact of them the full obedience required in the law; 
that he will lower its demands, overlook their failings, and ac- 
cept of their imperfect services. Fatal delusion! Just as if 
the law of God, the eternal rule of rectitude in his government 
of moral beings, can be made to bend and vary in its require- 
ments and sanctions, so as to meet the wayward dispositions and 
views of sinful men. The fearful fact is, that having broken 
the law of God, we can never stand before him in the character 
of innocent beings; and he, as a God of truth and justice, can 
never regard and treat us as he does those who have not sinned 
against him. Our relations to him as the moral Governor of 
the world are essentially different from those of sinless, obe- 
dient creatures. We have taken the attitude of revolt, have 
incurred the penalty of transgression, and God, as righteous 
Lawgiver and Judge, must regard and treat us according to our 
true character. That is a character of sin and guilt, and we 
can do nothing to make it otherwise. Speak we of merit? 
What have we ever merited from God but his righteous dis- 
pleasure? Speak we of good deeds? What deeds have we 
ever done which come up to the claims of the law, or on the 
ground of which we should presume to appear before the bar 
of infinite purity? The truth is, in our natural state we do no 
works that are right and pleasing to God. The very best of 
our doings in that state are of the nature of sin; they proceed 
from a corrupt fountain, and are, therefore, unholy and unac- 
ceptable in the sight of him who looketh on the heart and re- 
quireth truth in the inward parts. And even after, in the kind- 
ness of God, we are renewed by his grace and are enabled to 
do works pleasing in his sight, we still fail, every day, of our 
duty, and have continual need, as long as we live, to cry — God 
be merciful to us sinners. Our obedience is far from meeting 
16 



176 FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST, 

the demands of the law. Imperfection and sin cleave to and 
mingle with all we do. " Our repentances need repenting of, 
and our tears need washing ;" and on none, no, not on our very 
best deeds can we place the least reliance as a ground of ac- 
ceptance in the presence of God, our sovereign Ruler and final 
Judge. This leads me to show, as was proposed, 

II. That what is thus unattainable by any doings of our own, 
is mercifully provided for us in the gospel, and is freely offered 
to our acceptance. 

The great design of our Saviour in coming into the world 
was to open a way for the pardon and salvation of sinners, con- 
sistently with the authority of the law, and the glory of the 
Lawgiver. This he effected, not by abrogating the law, not by 
lowering its demands, nor by freeing men from obligation to 
obey it, but by offering himself, in our stead, a sacrifice for sin, 
thereby making atonement, redeeming us from the curse of the 
law, and bringing us into reconciliation and favor with God our 
Sovereign and Judge. Hence the Bible abounds in such lan- 
guage as the following : — Christ died for us ; died for the ungodly ; 
was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justifica- 
tion ; gave himself a ransom for us ; tasted death for every man ; 
was made a sin-offering for us ; bore our sins in his own body ; is 
the propitiation for the sins of the world. In accordance with 
these Scriptures which indicate the manner in which Christ 
provided for the pardon of our sins, even by the sacrifice of 
himself, we are said to be justified by his blood, to be reconciled 
to God by his death, and to have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. 

On the ground of the atonement, thus made by Christ becom- 
ing our surety, our substitute, taking our low place, suffering 
and dying in our room arid stead, the just for the unjust, a way 
has been opened, in which the mercy of God can flow to the 
guilty consistently with the rights of his government and the 
glory of his name. As the Scriptures express it, God can now 
be just and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. God 
is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing the 
trespasses of them that believe in him; he looks upon them as 
righteous in him; and for his sake or in virtue of their union 
with him by faith, he pardons all their sins, accepts their per- 
sons and seals them heirs of his kingdom. Being justified freely 
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ J-esus, they 
have peace with God and rejoice in hope of his glory. 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 177 

The provision thus made for the forgiveness of sin through 
the mediation of Christ is adequate to the wants of a dying 
world; and is freely oflPered to the acceptance of all who are 
willing to receive it. It knows no limit but impenitence and 
unbelief. It flows free as the light of heaven, and the poor- 
est and most guilty of our race are invited to look and live. 
The voice of divine mercy is, — Come, for all things are ready. 
The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin; and by him all that 
believe are justified from all things from which they could not 
be justified by the law of Moses. It remains to show, 

III. That it is a matter of the most serious importance that 
the two facts contained in the. text, and which we have just 
illustrated, should be clearly understood and cordially believed 
by all who have the gospel preached to them. The two facts 
are these; — we can not be justified by the deeds of the law; 
but we can be justified by faith in Christ. These two facts 
constitute the doctrine of our text. They are stated by the 
apostle in the form of an inference from a discourse delivered 
by him respecting the death and resurrection of Christ; and 
his manner of expression shows that he regarded the knowledge 
and belief of these facts as a matter of the greatest importance. 
Be it kaown unto you, therefore, men and brethren ; as if he 
had said, — whatever else you may or may not know, or what- 
ever be your present feelings and views on the subject; be this 
known to you as a truth admitting of no doubt, and of the 
deepest moment to your immortal well-being, that through this 
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him aU 
that believe are justified from all things from which ye could 
not be justified by the law of Moses. The importance of 
knowing and believing, w^ith the heart, the doctrine taught in 
this scripture, will appear, if we consider, 

1. That it contains the sum and substance of the gospel. 
What, my brethren, is the gospel, but a revelation of mercy to 
guilty men, flowing to them through the mediation of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ? This is the doctrine of our text, and it is an 
epitomized, but faithful view of the whole system of grace 
made known in the scriptures for our salvation. It all proceeds 
on the ground of the utter ruin and helplessness of man as a 
sinner. It supposes him to be in a state of guilt and condem- 
nation, from which he can be delivered by no arm of flesh, nor 
by any efforts of his own ; amd finding him thus lost and help- 
less, it points him to an almighty deliverer, Christ, the Son of 



178 FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 

God, who undertook the great work of saving men from sia 
and hell by suffering and dying in their stead, redeeming them 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them. Oa 
any other supposition than that man is utterly fallen and 
helpless in himself, the gospel would have nj> meaning. It is 
glad tidings ; but what are glad tidings to those who are not 
exposed to danger, or not subjected to misery and want? It is 
grace; but what is grace to those who are not guilty and ill- 
deserving? It is pardon; but what is pardon to those who are 
not justly condemned ? It is salvation ; but what is salvation 
to those who are not lost? In whatever light the gospel is 
contemplated, it involves the two facts of man's complete ruin 
by sin, and of his gracious recovery by the mediation of Christ, 
and no man can understand and believe the gospel to the saving 
of his soul, till these two facts obtain a practical lodgment in 
the bosom and abide there as principles of feeling and action. 

It may be added, that it is in this way only that the riches of 
God's grace in saving sinners can be made to appear in its true 
light. Much is said of this grace in the scriptures. Patriarchs, 
prophets, apostles, martyrs and saints in every age of the world, 
have dwelt on the riches of God's grace in grateful admiration 
and delight ; living they built upon it all their hope^ dying 
they derived from it their divinest consolations ; in heaven it is 
the theme of their sweetest songs, and during eternity it will 
awaken their deepest gratitude and call forth their highest praise. 
But how does it appear that the grace of God, which bringeth 
salvation, is thus glorious ? It appears in the poverty which it 
enriches ; in the weakness to which it imparts strength ; in the 
guilt which it pardons ; in the misery from which it redeems,^ 
and in the blessedness to which, through the mediation of Christ, 
it exalts the poor, the condemned and the lost. It is only when 
you look at man as ruined in sin, sinking down to death and hell, 
with no created arm to deliver, that the grace of God in 
saving him is seen in its true glory, as worthy of all the com- 
mendation, thanksgiving and praise which it awakens among 
the redeemed on earth and in heaven. 

2. The doctrine of our text is not only necessary to a right 
understanding of the gospel, and to our having right views of 
the riches of God's grace in saving sinners, but also to humble 
the pride of the natural heart, and bring men penitent and 
thankful to the foot of the cross for pardon and life. Pride in the 
form of self-righteousness, is the first sin that springs up in the 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 179 

heart of man, and it is the last that is subdued. Every man in 
hjs natural state is disposed to think well of himself. He does 
not believe that he is the poor, guilty and self-ruined creature 
that he is represented to be in the Bible. He vainly indulges 
self-righteous hopes ; speaks of his good deeds and of his mer- 
its, and thinks to work out a righteousness of his own, while he 
neglects the righteousness of Christ. This is the spirit which 
holds impenitent men in their sins; which causes them to dis- 
regard the voice of warning and the offers of mercy and to 
live securely on the brink of a miserable eternity. To humble 
and subdue this spirit is one great design of the gospel, and no 
one doctrine is so well adapted to produce this effect as that 
which is taught in our text. It strikes at the root of all pride 
and self-confidence, by declaring the fact that such is the guilt 
and impotence of fallen man, that he can do nothing himself 
to merit salvation, or cancel the debt which he owes to divine 
justice, and that he can be saved only as he throws away all 
his own righteousness as filthy rags, and comes, poor, helpless, 
perishing, pleading for mercy through Christ. It meets every 
man, whatever be his rank, station or character, with the 
charge of guilt before God, for which he can make no atone- 
ment, and proclaiming him dead in sin, points him to the cross 
of Christ as his only refuge, and assures him, till he flees there, 
humble, penitent, beheving, there is no peace and no pardon 
for him, but the wrath of God abideth on him. This is a hard 
lesson for a proud self-righteous sinner to learn ; but it is in- 
dispensable to salvation ; and hence it is the very first lesson 
impressed on the mind under the awakening influences of the 
Holy Spirit, and the last that is ever forgotten by the true 
Christian. Every one who is taught of God learns these two 
things, — in himself he is utterly lost; and help is found alone 
in Christ. The one kills pride, the other inspires hope, the one 
brings down lofty looks, the other gives peace and joy in believ- 
ing. 

3. It is of great importance that the doctrine of our text 
should be clearly understood and cordially believed, because it 
meets man just where he most needs to be met as a sinner, and 
opens a full supply for all his deepest and most pressing wants. 
It kindly and clearly notifies us of the fact, which, as fallen 
creatures, it is certainly of infinite importance for us to know, 
that by the deeds of the law we can never be justified. But 
it does not stop here. It shows us the way in which we can 
16* 



180 FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 

be justified. It first makes known the disease, then points ta 
the remedy ; first humbles and then exalts ; first proclaims our 
need of mercy and then shows us where and how we may 
obtain mercy, even by believing on Christ; and it assures us 
that the mercy abounding through him, is mercy for the chief 
of sinners, open to all, free to all and adapted to the wants of 
all. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, 
from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. 
Here is a provision just such as guilty, perishing man needs. 
There is no depth of misery which it can not reach ; no stain 
of guilt which it can not remove; no want which it can not 
supply. Are any made sensible of their spiritual malady? 
Here is healing for them. Are any weary and heavy laden? 
Here is freedom from all their useless toil and labor. Do any 
hunger and thirst after righteousness? With righteousness and 
glory shall they be satisfied. Are any cast down and sorrowful 
under the afflictions and trials of life? In Christ the promise 
meets them, my grace is sufficient for them and all things shall 
work together for their good. Are any in bondage through 
the fear of death? Death is to the believer in Christ a van- 
quished foe, and the grave the gateway to eternal glory. In a 
word, if found in Christ, justified by his grace, you have noth- 
ing to fear in this world or the next. You are freed from con- 
demnation. The work begun by the Holy Spirit shall be car- 
ried on unto perfection. Grace will be given you in every 
time of need ; you shall triumph over death and the grave, and 
finally rise to immortal blessedness in heaven. As a sinner, 
nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse you from sin. All 
your hopes are in him, and fleeing to him, all your guilt is 
washed away, peace enters your bosom, and your brightest 
anticipations will be more, infinitely more than realized amid 
the light and blessedness of the heavenly world. I add, 

4. The doctrine of our text is important, as it lays a founda- 
tion for a happy union of feeling and sentiment in all who cor- 
dially embrace it. He who is once thoroughly convinced that 
he can never be justified by any works of his own, but must 
depend for salvation wholly on the mercy of God in Christ, is 
sure to be right on every other essential doctrine of the Bible. 
On the contrary, he who is in an error on this point, or 
who thinks he can be saved on the ground of his own doings, 
setting aside the atoning blood of Christ, is equally sure to be 
wrong on every other important doctrine of revelation. Go the 
world over, search the history of the church in every age, and 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. 181 

you shall find only e^^idence of the truth of the remark now 
made. The doctrine of justification by faith, to the exclusion 
of human merit, forms indeed the dividing line between the 
spirit of truth and the spirit of error ; between believers and 
unbelievers, between the heirs of heaven and the children of 
the world. Those who have been taught of the spirit, re- 
nounce all confidence in the flesh, all reliance upon forms and . 
ceremonies, and cordially unite in the sentiment that, lost in 
themselves, they can be justified and saved only by grace, flow- 
ing to them through the atonement of Christ and apprehended 
by faith ; and this prepares them to unite in all other essential 
views of doctrinal and experimental religion. And this senti- 
ment, the bond of union among the friends of Christ on earth, 
will be perfected and perpetuated in heaven. No feeling of 
self-righteousness or merit will ever mingle in the thanksgivings 
and praises of that happy world. It is a world filled with the 
monuments of grace and mercy. All its inhabitants were once 
lost sinners ; they will owe their redemption from death and 
hell to the blood of Christ, and their eternal song will be — 
Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own 
blood. 

In the truth now illustrated, we all, my hearers, have a deep 
personal interest. Indeed on our acceptance or rejection of it 
depends our present standing with God, and our acquittal or 
condemnation in the great day of account. We appear here 
to-day in different characters and circumstances of life. Some 
are young, some are old, some are rich, some are poor ; some 
are learned, some are unlearned; some are honorable, some are 
obscure ; some are moral and exemplary in conduct, and some 
it may be are the opposite. But to all, however different in 
character and condition, the doctrine of our text is applicable, 
— and to all without exception, it may be said — by the deeds 
of the law ye can not be justified. Sinners against God, the 
curse of the law lies upon you; and no way of escape is open 
but the one declared in our text. Christ is set before you 
the end of the law, for righteousness, to every one that be- 
lieveth. Receiving him by faith, you are justified freely by his 
grace, have peace with God, and may rejoice always in hope 
of his glory. Here you are safe; the promise of a faithful 
God secures all your dearest interests for time and eternity; 
and he will never forsake you till he brings you home to his 
heavenly kingdom. 

To those of my hearers who have not fled to this refuge, I 



182 THE GREAT SEPARATION. 

can now say but a word. Scenes of unutterable interest and 
solemnity are before you. You must ere long take leave of 
the world, pass through the change of death and appear before 
God in judgment. You need the pardoning mercy of God in 
Christ, and must have it or perish forever. It is now offered 
to you ; I have proclaimed it to you in this discourse, — and I 
close in the language of my text. — Be it known unto you there- 
fore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto 
you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that believe are 
justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by 
the law of Moses. 



SE RMON XVII. 

THE GREAT SEPARATION. 

Matthew xxv : 32. — And he shall separate them one from another. 

These words are from the description given by our Lord 
Jesus Christ of the final judgment ; — a scene, to which we are 
all advancing ; in which we all have a deep personal interest ; 
and for which it becomes us, one and all, to be in constant 
preparation. 

In the verses preceding the text, we are told, that when the 
Son of Man shall come in his glory and aU the holy angels 
with him, he shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and that all 
nations shall be gathered before him. This vast assembly, thus 
congregated before the throne of judgment, will be separated 
into two distinct classes. He shall separate them one from 
another. 

I. Let us, in the first place, contemplate this as a revealed 
fact. In the present world the righteous and the wicked, the 
friends and the enemies of God, dwell together. They are 
connected by the ties of kindred and friendship ; they live to- 
gether in the same families ; are associated with each other in 
the various intimacies, pursuits and enjoyments of life; and 



THE GREAT SEPARATION. 183 

thus mingled together in each other's society, they are passing 
on to the scenes of the invisible world. But a time is coming 
when they are to be separated forever. This is directly 
asserted in the text. He shall separate them one from another. 
But the text stands not alone in support of this solemn fact. 
There are numerous other scriptures which not only teach the 
certainty of a future judgment, but expressly assert that a 
final separation is then to be made between the righteous and 
the wicked. Hear the Saviour's explanation of the parable of 
the tares of the field. He that soweth the good seed is the 
Son of Man ; the field is the world ; the good seed are the 
children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the 
wicked one ; the enemy that sowed them is the devil ; the har- 
vest is the end of the world ; and the reapers are the angels. 
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so 
shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of Man shall 
send forth his angels; and they shall gather out of his 
kingdom all things that ofiend and them that do iniquity, and 
shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as 
the sun in the kingdom of their Father. 

The same thing is taught in the parable of the net. It was 
cast into the sea and gathered of every kind ; and when it was 
full they drew it to shore, and sat down and gathered the good 
into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be, declares our 
Lord, in the end of the world ; the angels shall come forth and 
sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into 
the fire ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

The truth thus directly taught in these parables, is necessarily 
implied in all those passages of Scripture which reveal a future 
day of judgment and account. Such a day God has ap- 
pointed ; a day in which he will judge the world in righteous- 
ness, and make such discriminations in his treatment of men as 
correspond with their respective characters, and this necessarily 
implies the fact of their being separated from one another. 
The time when this separation is to take place is at the day of 
judgment. It is when the Son of Man shall come in his glory 
and all the holy angels with him. 

There is indeed, a real and very affecting separation between 
the righteous and the wicked at death. They part from 
each other, as they enter the dark valley, to meet only once 
more, and that before the bar of God. For, although the 



184 THE GREAT SEPARATION. 

Scriptures are not very explicit in revealing to us the particu- 
lar condition of departed spirits in the intermediate state, 
or during the time that intervenes between death and the judg- 
ment, they say enough to convince us that all intercourse be- 
tween, the righteous and the wicked ceases at death, and that 
then the one enter immediately into a state of happiness, 
and the other into a state of misery. Thus in the parable of 
the rich man and Lazarus, we are taught, that at the moment 
of entering the invisible world, they were separated from each 
other. The one died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in 
torment ; the other died, and was carried by angels into Abra- 
ham's bosom, or the abode of the blessed. And what was true 
of them is doubtless true of all others when they die. They 
part to meet no more till the last trumpet shall sound to sum- 
mon them before the bar of judgment. There they will meet, 
in the presence of their judge, to witness each other's trial, and 
receive the sentence which is to fix them in their final abode. 
But this meeting will be their last. They will then be separa- 
ted to meet no more during eternity. 

11. Let us next consider the nature of this separation. It 
will then, in the first place, be made by the Judge himself. At 
his command the nations of the dead will be raised from 
the grave and gathered before his tribunal. His all-seeing eye 
will survey the vast and mingled assembly, and with infallible 
certainty discern the character of every individual. The 
entire history of each one's life ; his thoughts, words and deeds 
in this state of probation, will be spread out to the view of the 
omniscient Judge, and decide instantly to which class he 
belongs, and on which hand he is to be placed. And while 
his all-seeing eye will penetrate the secrets of every heart, 
and discriminate the character of every individual of that im- 
mense concourse, his almighty power, by a secret yet resist- 
less energy, will separate them one from another according to 
the decisions of his unerring discernment. The separation, it 
should be observed, will be made wholly on the ground of 
moral character. Wealth, rank, station, talents, learning will 
have no place in the reckoning of the last day, except only as 
the possession of them in this life enhanced responsibility, and 
operated to develop and form a character, virtuous or vicious, 
sinful or holy in the sight of the great Searcher of Hearts. 
The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the prince 
and the beggar will stand before God on the same ground, and 



THE GREAT SEPARATION. 185 

will be separated to heaven or to hell, according to each one's 
respective deeds, done in the body. 

2. It will be a separation in feeling and character. In the 
present state, the righteous and the wicked have many feelings 
in common. The natural sympathies and social affections, the 
feelings of humanity and of kindred and friendship, belong to 
each class, and often unite them to each other by strong 
and tender ties. These common sympathies and attachments 
are necessary to carry on the purposes of the present state of 
being. They qualify men to live together in families and soci- 
eties, and often to be interesting friends and companions, even 
when in their religious character they are entirely unlike. 

But when the final separation shall take place, at the judg- 
ment day, these common bonds of union will be sundered, and 
the righteous and the wicked will have no ground on which 
they can ever again meet and mingle in intercourse and affec- 
tion. In feeling and character they will appear in direct and 
pointed contrast. Saints will then be* perfectly holy and 
lovely, and sinners will be perfectly unholy and hateful. There 
will be no bond -of union between them, and no ground of sym- 
pathy and friendship. The redeemed of the Lord, those who 
shall be accounted worthy to have a part in the resurrection of 
the just, will come forth "in the perfect likeness of God 
their Saviour. All the weaknesses, imperfections and sins, that 
pertained to them in this world, will be dropped, purged away 
at death, and they will be as the angels of God. The wicked, 
on the other hand, will awake to shame and everlasting 
contempt. They will not have one kind or amiable feel- 
ing, and not one bright, or humane trait of character. They 
will be abandoned to all the hatefulness and misery of unre- 
strained selfishness and sin ; they will be pronounced accursed 
by the Judge himself, and fit only for the society of the 
devil and his angels. 

3. It will be a separation in place and residence. Here the 
righteous and the wicked dwell together. They walk the same 
earth, they breathe the same air; they are lightened and 
warmed by the same sun. They are found in the same places 
of business and resort ; they enter the same house of worship, 
sit upon the same seat, hear the same sermon, are fed from the 
same table, and repose under the same roof. Not so in eternity. 
There they are separated from each other, and an impassable 
gulph is fixed between them. 



186 THE GREAT SEPARATION. 

There is a glorious heaven revealed as the future abode 
of the righteous ; a world of unclouded light, of perfect purity 
and everlasting blessedness. It is the kingdom which, in the 
context, is said to have been prepared for them from the 
foundation of the world, and into which they are received by 
the joyful welcome of the Judge himself, announced to them 
from the throne of his glory. It is a kingdom of infinite mag- 
nificence and beauty, fitted up by the great God himself as his 
own peculiar residence, and filled always with his glorious pres- 
ence. No temple is there, and no light of the sun or of 
the moon, but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the 
temple of this divine residence, and the sun that shines with the 
splendors of everlasting day. Into this glorious and happy 
place the ransomed of the Lord, on the day of final separation 
between them and the wicked, will be received, and there 
take up their final abode, and enter upon their everlasting 
employment of thanksgiving and praise. Into this heavenly 
residence nothing will be permitted to enter that defileth 
or maketh a lie. From it will be excluded every sin and 
every sinner. It is the peculiar abode of God and Christ, of 
angels and the spirits of just men made perfect ; and during 
eternal ages, its glory and blessedness will remain the sole in- 
heritance of pure and holy beings. 

Far, far from this world of light and blessedness, there is an- 
other world, a world of darkness and wo, of bitter wailing and 
ceaseless despair, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not 
quenched. Into this world of indescribable guilt and mis- 
ery the wicked are all to be gathered together on the day 
of final separation, and there they are to dwell together during 
eternal ages. They are all to be together, the wicked of every 
age and of every name ; the vilest and most hateful of 
our race, with fallen 'angels and all who have slighted God's 
mercy and rejected the Son of his love, — all will be together, 
and separated from every holy being and from every ray 
of hope, will be confined forever in the dreadful prison of hell. 

4. It will be a separation in interest and employment. 
In the present world the interests of the righteous and the 
wicked are often necessarily blended together, and their em- 
ployments the same. They are connected with each other as 
husbands and wives, as parents and children, as brothers 
and sisters, as neighbors and friends, and also as members 
of the same congregation and church, and of the same civil 



THE GREAT SEPARATION. 187 

community. But on the great day of judgment an entire 
change will take place in all these particulars. The various 
relations of the present life, with all its occupations and pur- 
suits, will be at an end ; and the righteous and the wicked will 
have no more to do with each other forever. They will be en- 
tirely separated from each other in feeling and character, 
in place and residence ; and this will lay a foundation for 
an eternal separation in interest and employment. The objects 
of supreme regard to the righteous will be the glory of God, 
and the interests and happiness of his holy kingdom. These 
will excite their purest affections, engage their noblest powers, 
and call forth their most delighted services. The cares and toils 
of life over and past, and all its selfish interests and pursuits at 
an end, the redeemed of the Lord will enter upon a new state 
of being, will be drawn into new relations to each other and to 
their God and Saviour, and enter upon employments suited to 
their glorified natures, and adapted to minister to their improve- 
ment and enhance their blessings during eternal ages. They 
will be transformed into the perfect image of their Saviour, all 
will behold his glory, worship in his temple and be filled with all 
his fulness; and then every holy affection shall be elicited, and 
every faculty educated, and every act of holy obedience ren- 
dered, and every expression of adoring homage and grateful 
praise be drawn forth, and all to a degree beyond conception, 
and in duration without end. This is the portion of all 
them that fear God and keep his commandments. 

But the reverse of all this is the portion of the sinner. The 
very same objects which bring joy and peace to the righteous 
will be sources of distress and despair to the wicked. In God 
and Christ and heaven and holiness they will have no interest 
and no satisfaction, but will be constrained to contemplate them 
for ever with the keenest remorse and the most overwhelming 

o 

convictions of sin and guilt in having despised and rejected 
them. Shut out from every joy allotted to the righteous and 
confined in the dark world of despair, they will realize for the 
first time, in all its dreadful import, what it is to be lost. On 
entering the world of punishment, they will sink down at once 
in utter despair, and begin the melancholy, never-ending work 
of self-reflection and self-condemnation. Here they are ex-' 
tremely averse to think of themselves, and of their relations to 
God and eternity. But there in the prison of hell they will 
have nothing to do, and will be able to do nothing but think 
17 



188 THE GREAT SEPARATION. 

during eternal ages. Every object and every thought will be 
to them, either the direct source of misery, or the memorial of 
good once enjoyed, but now lost for ever. All will be burning 
desolation and ceaseless despair. And while the circles of eter- 
nity move slowly round, bringing no change and no alleviation, 
lost sinners will ever be employed in the mournful, sinking work 
of self-reflection and self-condemnation. I add, 

5. The separation between the righteous and the wicked will 
be eternal. This is the most affecting circumstance attending 
it. If it were only of temporary duration, it would be less fear- 
ful in prospect, and less overwhelming in endurance. But he 
who is to preside over the decisions of the last day, and who is 
to effect the separation between the righteous and the wicked, 
has spoken distinctly on this subject, and no room is left for a 
doubt that the separation will be eternal. "When these two 
classes of persons part at the judgment day, they part to meet 
no more for ever. For thus stands the sentence of him who is 
to pronounce the separation. — these shall go away into everlast- 
ing punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. 

III. Let us very briefly, in the third place, consider on what 
ground the separation we have been contemplating will be made. 
This lies not in any of the distinctions which pertain merely to 
the present life. It is not riches nor poverty, it is not learning 
nor ignorance, it is not honor nor obscurity, it is not birth, nor 
rank, nor fame, that forms the ground of the separation at the 
last day. But it is character, moral character, formed in this 
state of probation, and fitting the soul as righteous or wicked 
for the different allotments to be assigned to men before the 
judgment bar. This is abundantly evident from the Scriptures, 
and especially from the 2oth chapter of Matthew, that contains 
our text, which I earnestly commend to your thoughtful reading, 
when you shall retire from the sanctuary to your homes. Pon- 
der seriously the word^ of the eternal Judge as recorded in that 
chapter, and the conviction will be irresistible, that it is charac- 
ter, character alone as holy or sinful, righteous or wicked, that 
is the ground of the separation which is to fix all men, on their 
trial at the last day, in conditions as far asunder as heaven and 
hell, and widely different as everlasting life and everlasting 
death. 

In conclusion, I am led to notice, 

1. An important bearing which our subject has on the form- 
ation and continuance of our earthly friendships. Friendships 



THE GREAT SEPARATION. 189 

formed here, under the influence of Christian principle and ce- 
mented by Christian love, will survive the change of death and 
the separations of the last day, and will be eternal. Those united 
in such friendships, though parted for a little season here on the 
shores of time, will meet again in their Father's house on high, 
and meet to part no more. There, transformed into the perfect 
image of the Saviour, and re-united to one another in the bonds 
of a purer and nobler affection than they ever knew on earth, 
they will recount together the scenes through which they passed 
in this life, their trials, their deliverances, their joys, their sor- 
rows ; and while they magnify the grace and the love that bore 
them through the conflicts of earth and time and raised them to 
so glorious an inheritance, how will it brighten their prospects, 
and swell their song of praise to reflect that their union is never 
to be interrupted, that their friendship is to endure for endless 
ages, ever drawing them closer and closer to each other and to 
their Saviour, the source of all their joy and blessedness! How 
delightful is this view of Christian friendship; how much does 
it tend to increase the satisfaction we feel in those whom we 
love ! We are bound to them by ties that can never be sun- 
dered. Our parting at death is but parting for a night; we 
meet them in the morning and meet them to part no more. The 
friendship we bear them is based on indissoluble principles; is 
fed from an exhaustless fountain; the changes of time can not 
efface it; the floods of death can not drown it; the scenes of 
the judgment can not sunder it. It will survive the dissolution 
of all terrestrial things and flourish in immortal youth in the 
pai-adise of God. 

Not so the friendships that are based on mere natural affec- 
tion or earth-born principles. Tender and interesting as they 
often are for the few fleeting days of this earthly life, they are 
sundered by the stroke of death, and sundered for ever. Those 
united in them part at the grave ; part to meet indeed once more ; 
but O how changed, and with what prospects! They meet in 
the dark world of wo, "of all but moral character bereft," the 
companions of lost spirits like themselves, filled with enmity, 
misery and despair. There terminate the tenderest friendships 
that subsist among those that know not God, and love not our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Their union is but for a day. They part 
at death to meet no more for ever in friendship and love; and 
though they may know each other in their future dwelling-place, 
it will not be as friends joined together in mutual sympathy and 



190 THE GREAT SEPARATION, 

good will, but as lost spirits, abandoned for ever to the unre- 
strained dominion of sin and its terrible consequences as they 
will be realized in the world of torment. 

2. The day of judgment will be a day of awful solemnity. 
It is the day for which all other days were made — the termina- 
tion of this earthly scene ; the close of this world's probation ; 
the period appointed for clearing up the mysteries of provi- 
dence; for vindicating the ways of God to man, and fixing the 
eternal allotments of all the children of men. 

Notice the events by which this day will be ushered in — the 
voice of the archangel and the trump of God ; the resurrection 
of the dead; the coming of the Judge with his mighty angels 
in the clouds of heaven; the gathering of all Adam's race be- 
fore his judgment-seat, and his separation of them to the right 
hand and left of his tribunal, according to their respective char- 
acters. And 0, what affecting separations will then take place ! 
The righteous and the wicked, however tenderly united here 
in the ties of kindred and friendship, will part there to meet 
no more. The separation will be such that there can be no 
future union. It will be a separation which will place at the 
one hand of the Judge a husband, and at the other a wife ; at 
the one hand a father, and at the other a son ; at the one hand a 
mother, and at the other a daughter ; in one world a parent who 
sought the conversion and salvation of his children, and in the 
other those children who neglected parental counsel and re- 
mained impenitent and unbelieving. The solemn scenes here 
referred to we ourselves shall witness. The judgment day is 
for us, and its glorious, its fearful separations we shall behold, 
and we shall experience. And how should we be affected in 
view of what is before us in the great day of final separation? 
How should this prospect move Christians to feel more deeply, 
and pray more fervently for their impenitent children, relatives 
and friends ? To-day they are separate from you. They evince 
no love to the Saviour whom you love, and no preparation for the 
heaven to which you hope you are going. They go away from 
you when you come to the communion-table, and they have no 
fellowship with you in the duties and privileges, and in the joys 
and hopes of the blessed gospel. Can you forbear to ask 
whether they are to be separated from you at the grave and for 
ever at the judgment day? How earnestly and tenderly should 
you bear them on your hearts when you draw near to God, and 
beseech him to have mercy on those whom you tenderly love 



THE GREAT SEPARATION 191 

and save them from being eternally separated from you on the 
great day of account! Friends of the Saviour! ye who can 
scarcely bear the thought of separation from your children for 
a month or a day, how can you think of being separated from 
them for ever? Ye parents, who are sleepless with anxiety 
when your loved ones suffer on a bed of pain, who watch with 
earnest solicitude over them in the slow-moving hours of night, 
how can you bear the thought that they are to suffer for ever 
and ever the dreadful consequences of impenitence and sin? 
Think of the scenes before you and before them; and while the 
day of mercy lasts and those now out of Christ, whom you ten- 
derly love, may be joined with you in faith and hope, never to 
be parted — pray for them, pray for them much and earnestly, 
that they may be brought to the Saviour, and so escape the 
great, the awful separation which awaits all the impenitently 
wicked at the last day. 

3. We see from this subject what must be done by those who 
are not now Christians, in order to avoid being separated with 
the wicked before the judgment bar. The ground of final sep- 
aration, we have seen, is the character formed in this state of 
probation. If then you would not be separated from the right- 
eous and placed at the left hand of your Judge, you must 
change your position ; must repent of sin, embrace Christ in an 
affectionate faith, and henceforth cast in your lot with the friends 
of God and the followers of the Saviour. Your all for eternity 
turns on this single point. If you remain what and where you 
are, impenitent, unbelieving, neglectful of Christ and salvation, 
you may know now, as certainly as you will know at the judg- 
ment day, that you will be separated from all good beings and 
all good, and sent away with the wicked into the world of des- 
pair. He who holds your destiny in his hands and is to decide 
it on the day of final account, has revealed to you the process 
and the results of that day, so that you can not plead ignorance 
of your duty or of the fate that awaits you, if you go on in sin 
and die in impenitence. Awake then, I beseech you, to your 
duty and to the momentous scenes before you. Do you wish 
on the great day of account to be placed at the right hand of 
the Judge, and by him be pronounced eternally blessed ; do you 
wish to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets 
and apostles in the kingdom of God; do you wish to follow to 
that blessed world those pious friends who have gone there be- 
fore you, and there be re-united to them in the bonds of a holy, 
• 17* 



192 THE GREAT SEPARATION. 

never-ending affection? See to it then that you tread in their 
steps and follow their example by believing in the Saviour and 
devoting yourselves to his service. Among those of you who 
do not profess to be Christians are husbands separated from 
j-our wives, parents from your children, children from your pa- 
rents, brothers from your sisters and sisters from your brothers. 
From those who sustain to you these endearing relations and 
who have consecrated their hearts to the Son of God, and from 
that Saviour whom they love and in whom they hope for eternal 
life, you are now divided. Shall this continue ? Shall it be 
deepened and prolonged until it terminate in the great separa- 
tion that shall endure for ever ? Divided in religion from your 
Christian relatives and friends, living for a different object and 
preparing for a different place in eternity, can you think, with- 
out concern, of the final issue of the course you are pursuing ? 
Impenitent children of pious parents, impenitent parents of 
pious children, impenitent husbands of pious wives, impenitent 
"wives of pious husbands, how can you bear the thought of an 
eternal reparation from your friends ? How can you think of 
their walking on the banks of the river of life, happy, redeemed 
ones, while you wander, wretched outcasts, on the plains of de- 
spair? How can you bear to think that all these tender ties 
are to be torn asunder, and that you are to be banished from 
them for ever and ever ? O be wise, and in this your day at- 
tend to the things that belong to your eternal peace, lest ere 
long they be hid for ever from your eyes. 



SERMON XYIII. 



NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 

Matthew xii : 30. He that is not for me is against me ; and he that sather- 
eth not with me scattereth abroad. 

There is no device by which the god of this world more 
fatally deceives the souls of unwary men, than by leading them 
to suppose that they can take neutral ground in regard to the 
character and cause of Christ. Blinded by this device of his, 
they see not the guilt and feel not the danger of that hopeless 
controversy in which they are engaged with their Maker ; but 
safe in their fancied neutrality, they live secure in their sins, 
and pass on, without apprehension or alarm, to the irreversible 
decisions of the judgment seat. This is indeed the grand ref- 
uge under which all seek to hide who remain quiet in their es- 
trangement from God. For, let the truth be once impressed 
that there is no middle course in religion ; that every man is 
either for or against God, is either a friend or an enemy, an 
heir of glory or a child of wrath, arid the slumbers of impeni- 
tence would immediately be broken, and no quietness or hope 
be enjoyed till reconciliation be effected on the terms proposed 
in the gospel. 

It is not then a useless but a necessary service which we 
attempt, when we endeavor to break up the delusion referred 
to, by bringing home the truth contained in our text,- — He that 
is not for me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me 
scattereth abroad, — the obvious meaning of which is, — Neu- 
trality in religion is impossible. 

Before I offer the proof of this position, it may be well 
briefly to explain it, or to show who they are that may be re- 
garded as n-eutrals in religion. They are then a very numer- 
ous class to be found in all our congregations; many of whom 
esteem themselves and are esteemed by others, persons of cor- 
rect and useful character. They admit the truth and import- 



194 NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 

ance of religion, and are willing that others should be attentive 
to it; but they are not disposed to take any lively or decided 
interest in it.themselves. Press upon these persons the claims of 
the gospel to their active and devoted obedience; urge upon 
them the duties of repentance and faith, and coming out from 
the world and enrolling themselves openly on the side of Christ 
and his cause, and they reluctate and hang back, and are not 
willing to take this decided stand. Present the other side of 
the alternative ; press home the charge of impenitence and un- 
behef, of rejection of Christ and opposition to his cause, and 
they think it unkind and turn away from the charge as untrue 
and undeserved. They are not willing to acknowledge them- 
selves Christians, and are displeased if treated as sinners. 
They do not profess to love Christ and his cause, nor do they 
wish to be known as opposed to him and the design of his 
mission on earth. They mean to adopt a -middle course, and 
to act a neutral part, and they flatter themselves that while 
they maintain this character and take no decided stand on one 
side or the other, they are quite safe and have nothing to fear 
from the displeasure of God, or the decisions of the coming 
judgment. 

Now the assertion of our text lays the axe at the root of all 
these delusions, and sweeps them aw-ay by the emphatic decla- 
ration, — He that is not for me is against me; and he that 
gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. The meaning of 
these words can not well be mistaken. The terms employed 
are very plain and simple C they are too, comprehensive of the 
whole family of man. They assert a general truth ; a truth 
which admits of no exception in favor of any one of our race, 
and which is well expressed in the position — Neutrality in re- 
gard to the character and cause of Christ is impossible. la 
proof of this let me, 

1. Adduce the testimony of the word of God. The text is 
explicit. He that is not for me is against me, and he that 
gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. To be with Christ 
and to gather with him in the sense here intended, is to be with 
him in feeling, in sentiment, in purpose, in life, engaged on his 
side and acting for the promotion of his cause. And the asser- 
tion is that all who are not thus with Christ are against him, 
against him in feeling, purpose and influence. The same thing 
is taught in language not less explict in our Saviour's sermon 
on the. mount. No man can serve two masters; for either he 



NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 195 

will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to 
the one and despise the other; ye can not serve God and 
Mammon ; ye can not be on both sides, fighting under two op- 
posing leaders in the great contest which is going on in this 
world. You can be only on one side, and undei; one leader. 
Neutrality is impossible. Take another passage equally deci- 
sive. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. 
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of 
God. It is needless to multiply texts. One plain declaration 
of God's word is as decisive proof of the point to which it 
relates as a thousand. Repetition adds nothing to the conclu- 
siveness of divine testimony. Take then the three texts that 
have been cited, and what less can they mean than that in reli- 
gion there is no neutral ground; that every man sitting under 
the light of the gospel is either for Christ or against him ; is 
either serving God or Mammon, is either a friend or an enemy 
of God. 

2. The same is evident from the nature of the human mind, 
and the laws under which it acts. Every man has some com- 
manding principle of action ; some supreme object of affection 
and pursuit; and he can have but one such object. This is 
directly asserted in one of the texts just recited, and is plainly 
true from the nature of the case. You can not serve two mas- 
ters; you can not have two distinct and separate objects, each 
of which holds the first and highest place in your affections. 
You can have but one master, but one object of supreme 
governing regard. To suppose the contrary were as absurd as 
to suppose that you can travel two opposite ways, or have two 
hearts beating in your bosom and sustaining your life at the same 
time. If now Christ be not your Master, and his cause hold not 
the first place in your esteem, then are you devoted to another 
master and engaged in another cause. If your ruling principle 
of action be not the love of Christ, it is the love of the world; 
if the end and aim of your being be not the glory of God, it is 
your own selfish interests, and this marks you as one at vari- 
ance with God your Maker and opposed to the welfare of his 
kingdom. There is here no middle course ; no neutral ground. 
Christ, or self, God or the world is to every living man an ob- 
ject of supreme regard; and this in the eye of him by whom 
character is weighed, marks every man a friend or an enemy, 
an heir of glory or a child of wrath. 

On this principle it is that the Bible divides all mankind into 



196 NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 

two distinct and separate classes, and predicates of each a 
character and state diametrically opposite the one to the other. 
It speaks of saints and sinners, of the righteous and the wicked, 
of the penitent and the impenitent, of the vessels of wrath and 
the vessels of mercy, of travelers on the broad way and on the 
narrow way, of men who are carnally minded and at enmity 
with God, and of men who are spiritually minded and at peace 
with God. In one or the other of these two classes is included 
every son and daughter of Adam. Search from Genesis to 
Revelation, and you shall find not one word said of a third or 
neutral class. AH are marked off by Him who knows what is 
in man as being either for or against Christ; either as acting 
for his glory and preparing for his kingdom, or as acting against 
his glory and preparing for ruin. 

3. The truth of our doctrine is proved from the nature of 
the divine requirements. These requirements are positive in 
their character, and can not be satisfied with mere negative 
obedience, with mere not feeling, not believing, not actings 
They go further and demand of every living man that he feel, 
believe and act in obedience to the will of God. So that if it 
were possible, as plainly it is not, to stop at the point of indif- 
ference, and neither feel nor think nor act directly against Christ 
and his cause ; this would be disobedience and quite enough to 
stamp upon you the character and expose you to the doom of 
an unfaithful servant. The Lord Jesus Christ, who rules over 
this world, commands that you actually acknowledge him as 
your Master, embrace him as your Saviour, and devote to him 
the best affections of your heart and services of your life ; and 
your not yielding obedience to him, in this respect, subjects you 
to his righteous displeasure, and passes you over to the side of 
those his enemies, who will not that he should reign over them. 
The man who hid his talent in the earth, and on being called 
to give account, returned it entire to his master, was found as 
really guilty and was doomed to as severe a punishment as was 
he who stood accused of having wasted his Lord's money. It 
is Jove, it is repentance, it is faith, it is coming out from the world 
and taking an open decided stand on the Lord's side; it is that 
which is required of you ; and all who do not yield obedience 
to Christ in these particulars, all who stand idle, or affect to be 
neutrals in this matter, are charged with being against him, as 
not gathering with him but scattering abroad. 

4. The character and cause of Christ are in their nature 



NEITRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 197 

such as render it impossible for any to feel indifferent or take 
neutral ground in respect to them. In his person, character 
and government over the world, the Lord Jesus Christ stands 
forth to the view of all intelligent creatures the most interesting 
being in the universe. At his appearance on earth holy angels 
left their bright abode to announce his birth and do him hom- 
age ; the spirits of darkness were moved at his coming and set 
themselves in array against him. Men, good and bad, Jerusalem 
and all Judea and the region round about, beholding him, as 
he went forth on his great work of mediation, showing himself 
the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, were powerfully 
moved by what they beheld and were constrained to show the 
deep emotions that stirred in them, by taking sides, according 
to their respective characters, either for or against him. The 
child that was born in Judea, that was laid in a manger, that 
grew up with his parents in a state of humiliation and depend- 
ence, that taught and wrought miracles among the people, that 
went about preaching the kingdom of God and calling sinners 
to repentance ; that was finally condemned under Pilate and 
expired on the cross, — this wonderful personage, in his appear- 
ance and teachings, tried the hearts and brought out the feelings 
of all that beheld him while on earth. And when he died on 
Calvary for the sins of the world, the heavens and the earth 
bore testimony to the dignity and glory of his character, and 
condemned the unbelief and enmity of all who owned him not 
as the Messiah, their Saviour and King. He rose from the 
dead in the sight of his wondering disciples ; ascended on high, 
where with all power in his hands he now reigns in supreme 
glory and majesty, and sends forth his mandate that all the 
sons of men submit to his authority and obey him as their Sav- 
iour and King. And can any be indifferent or neutral in 
respect to the character of this glorious Personage, or to the 
authority he sways over them from his throne of holiness and 
majesty on high? Is neutrality possible in regard to a being 
like the Son of God, standing as he does in the most interest- 
ing and solemn relation to the children of men, and having 
their immortal destiny entirely at his disposal? Can any one 
of you, my hearers, open your eyes to the character of Christ, 
as it is set before you in the gospel ; can you think of the de- 
sign for which he came into the world; of the work he is now 
accomplishing on earth, and of the consequences which are 
sure to ensue from it to you and all mankind in eternity, — can 



198 NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 

all this be present to your thoughts, without trying your feel- 
ings and constraining you to take sides either for or against 
Christ ? No, my friends, no ; Christ, it is said in the gospel, is set 
for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel and for a 
sign that shall be spoken against, that the thoughts of many 
hearts may be revealed. And this declared result of the Sav- 
iour's mission and presentation before the eyes of men is 
realized wherever his gospel is preached and he is held forth 
as the Saviour, Sovereign and Judge of the world. I add, 

5. The disclosures and decisions of the judgment day prove 
that neutrality in regard to Christ and religion is impossible. 
At that day the whole human race will stand before the judg- 
ment seat of Christ, and he will separate them, he assures 
us in his own account of the scene, into two classes, according 
to their respective characters, placing the righteous on his right 
hand and the wicked on his left. To the one class he will say, 
come ye blessed of my Father, and they will ascend with him 
to mansions prepared for them in heaven ; and to the other he 
will say — depart ye accursed, and they will go to take up their 
abode in hell. Tell me now, what is the ground of this sepa- 
ration of the children of men into these two classes, and of the 
infinitely different allotments assigned to them by the omniscient 
and righteous Judge ? The Bible answers, it is the different 
characters they formed and sustained in this world ; it is their 
treatment of Christ as Mediator, their feelings and conduct in 
relation to him and his cause in this state of probation, — this is 
assigned as the sole ground of the separation between the right- 
eous and the wicked at the last day, and of the opposite states 
to which they are respectively adjudged. Read over the last 
half of the 25th chapter of Matthew, and you will have Ijie 
whole solemn scene set vividly before you, and in such light, I 
must think, as will dispel every doubt, if you have any, as to the 
truth of the sentiment we are considering. What, indeed is the 
process of the final judgment as described by him who is to 
preside over its decisions, but a public exhibition of the charac- 
ter and conduct of men in this life, and awarding to each a sen- 
tence of acquittal or condemnation according to the deeds done 
in the body ? It is the character as existing h^e ; it is the 
deeds done here, the feelings and actions of men respecting 
Christ here ; their treatment of him and his cause ; their being 
with him or against him, their gathering with him, or scattering 
abroad, — these are the r^^tters which are to come into judgment 



NEUTRALITY IX RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 199 

on the great day of account, and the decision of which is to fix 
the condition of every human being for eternity. As surely, 
then, as a day is coming, when all the children of men shall be 
found at the right or left hand of the Judge, and by him shall 
be adjudged to heaven or to hell, so surely are all who are now 
in this state of probation, either for or against Christ ; either 
gathering with him or scattering abroad. The Bible recog- 
nizes no other ground of distinction ; the judgment day recog- 
nizes no other ; and the man who imagines himself to be on 
neutral ground, and therefore secure as to the decision that will 
be made at the final judgment, is trusting to a refuge of lies 
and preparing for an awful disappointment in the great day of 
the Lord's appearing. 

In conclusion, I am led to remark, 

1. It may be expected that those who assume neutral ground 
will take it unkindly when their deception and danger are 
exposed. So it was in the days of our Saviour. When he de- 
tected and exposed the self deception of the young ruler 
and swept away his false hopes by showing him the entire self- 
ishness of his heart and his unfitness for heaven, he disliked 
both the preacher and the preaching, and turned and went 
away sorrowful. When he undeceived those who followed him 
for the loaves and the fishes and exposed their mercenary and 
selfish motives, by a pointed application of truth to their case, 
they went back, we are told, and walked no more with him. So 
when he preached in the synagogue of Nazareth and pressed 
home the sovereignty of God in the bestowment of his blessings, 
he so detected and brought out the enmity of the natural heart, 
that his hearers, who began at first to listen with pleasure to 
the gracious words that fell from his lips, were in the end 
so filled with wrath, that they led him out to the brow 
of the hill to cast him down headlong. So it is at the present 
day. It is as true now as it was eighteen hundred years 
ago, that those who do evil hate the light, and dislike every at- 
tempt to convince them of their sin and show them the false 
and dangerous ground on which they stand. A preacher may 
indeed so deal with his hearers that the most careless and 
exposed of them shall find no fault, and feel no uneasiness un- 
der his ministrations. But let him speak out without reserve 
or disguise, the whole counsel of God ; let him fix upon the 
conscience the claims of God in all their weight and urgency, 
and show clearly that there is no middle ground in reli- 
18 



200 NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 

gion, that so long as men are not heartily on the side of Christ, 
and his cause, they are in reality opposed to him and his cause, 
and he need not be surprised, if from many a mouth the voice 
of cavil and complaint be heard, and it be said of him as of one 
of old, this is a hard saying, who can hear it. But is not this 
extremely unwise as well as ungrateful ? ^hat greater kind- 
ness can be shown to a poor perishing sinner, ignofant of 
his true state and character, and groping in darkness to a mis- 
erable eternity, than to open his eyes and show him the danger 
of his situation, the fearful ruin which is before him, that so he 
may turn and live ? Was it not kind in our Saviour to unde- 
ceive the young ruler and show him the hollowness of his 
hopes ? Was it not kind in him to expose the insincerity of 
those who followed him from mercenary motives ; and was it 
not kind in him to leave it on record for the instruction and 
warning of all future generations, that all who are not for him 
are against him ; and that all who do not gather with him scat- 
ter abroad ? If these things are so, we have no higher interest 
than to know them ; and every faithful endeavor to illustrate 
and impress them on the heart should be listened to with can- 
dor, and repaid with gratitude. It is not the preacher who 
makes the distinction between saints and sinners, but God in his 
word of truth ; and the preacher in the faithful discharge 
of his duty, as one appointed to watch for souls, aims only 
to bring out the distinction clearly to the view of his hearers, 
that so they see on which side they stand, and thus be prepared 
for its full and decisive manifestation on the great day of judg- 
ment and account. 

2. If all who are not for Christ are against him, then it 
is immensely important that tfhis truth should be clearly set 
forth and fully known. If this is a truth, it is plainly a truth 
of the gravest importance, and a minister can not do anything a 
thousandth part so dangerous to his hearers as to disguise or 
keep it back. Better, infinitely better, he should preach 
nothing than to preach so as to leave an impression on the 
minds of his hearers that there is no essential difference 
between the righteous and the wicked, or that it is possible for 
them to take neutral ground in relation to Christ and his cause. 
While this impression remains, there is not the least hope that 
one of them will be awakened and come to Christ for salvation. 
Safe in their fancied neutrality, the invitations and warnings of 
the gospel can do them no good ; but will pass them without 



NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 201 

impression and without effect, leaving them secure in their sins. 
Not a few now before me know the truth of what I here 
say, from their own experience. Some of you, for years, have 
been halting between two opinions ; affecting to stand on neu- 
tral ground, and deceiving your souls with the ruinous belief 
that though you may not be for Christ you are surely not 
against him. I call this a ruinous belief, and it is so in 
every view you can take of it. It shields you against the 
awakening and converting power of God's truth. It begets 
in you the deceptive feeling that you are safe, when, in truth, 
you are in the most imminent danger. You stand on enchanted 
ground, where self-deception rocks you in its cradle of false 
security, and the longer you remain on this ground the 
deeper your sleep, and the more insensible to the danger that 
hangs over you. Be it so, that you are moral and correct 
in your general character, and that you never say or do 
any thing directly against religion, but treat it with respect. 
The question is, are you for Christ or against him ; gathering 
with him or scattering abroad ? The answer to this question 
decides in the sight of God, the character and destiny of every 
son and daughter of Adam. And it is high time it were 
asked and answered at the bar of each one's conscience 
now before me. This vacillating, undecided neutral state 
of mind in which many of you have long been living, is 
infinitely perilous, as well as deeply sinful. It has brought you 
to this hour unreconciled to God and with no preparation 
for eternity ; and should you die in your present state, there 
would be no hope for you forever. Away, then, with this neu- 
trality of character. It is a mere imagination, and, if trusted 
in, will prove your ruin. There is no half way in this matter ; 
no middle ground on which you can stand and be safe. For or 
against, that is the mark which Omniscience reads on the brow 
of every human being. There are but two masters whom you 
can serve, God or mammon. There are but two supreme 
objects of regard ; Christ and the world. There are but two 
classes of persons in the world, saints and sinners, and there 
are but two places in eternity in which the children of men are 
to dwell, heaven or hell. Who then is your Master, God 
or mammon ? What is your supreme object of regard, Christ 
or the world ; what your character, saint or sinner, friend or en- 
emy ; and your dwelling place in eternity, heaven or hell ? Our 
subject brings these solemn questions directly before you ; take 



202 NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 

them up and seek an honest answer before it be forever too 
late. 

3. We see on what ground it is declared by our Saviour, 
that except a man be born again he can not enter the kingdom 
of God. The declaration is broad, extending to the whole 
race, and taking in every son and daughter of Adam. No one 
can be saved without being born again, born of the •Spirit. 
The necessity of this change, this regeneration by the Holy 
Spirit, lies in the fact that every man in his natural, unregener- 
ated state is ruined in sin, estranged from God, with no love to 
or interest in Christ, as his Saviour, and so is unfit for his ser- 
vice on earth, and for his presence in heaven. This is a great 
truth, a momentous fact ; and in view of it, it may well be said 
to every child of Adam, to every one sitting in these seats — 
marvel not ; ye must be born again. That which is born of the 
jflesh is flesh, is selfish, sinful, against Christ and the interests 
of his kingdom, and thus creates the necessity of a change of 
heart, a regeneration by the Spirit of God, which can alone 
bring the soul to live and act for Christ, and fit it for the soci- 
ety and happiness of heaven. But I may not enlarge. 

4. I conclude by urging you to consider, each one, how great 
is the sin and danger of being against Christ. Against Christ ! 
Why ; what evil hath he done ? Is it for the love that brought 
him into the world to suffer and die for the miserable and 
the lost ? Is it for the tender compassion that calls after, and 
bears with the sinner from year to year and waits still to bless 
and save him with an everlasting salvation ? Against Christ ! 
was ever ingratitude so great, or guilt so enormous ? Can such 
a contest prosper ? Must it not recoil with certain destruction 
on all who are engaged in it? Who is it that the sinner 
is against ? The eternal Son of God ; he who has all power in 
heaven and on earth in his hands ; who has the keys of death> 
and hell, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man 
opens. And is it a light matter to be against so exalted, so glo- 
rious a Being ? But against him every man is, who is not cor- 
dially on his side, acting for him, and gathering with him. Is 
it so? God, the Saviour, has declared it, and the decisions 
of the judgment day will demonstrate its truth in the presence 
of the assembled world. My dear hearers, let me press the 
inquiry — are you with Christ ; with him in affection, in object, 
in action and in influence ? He is the light of the world ; the 
merciful and only Saviour of lost men. You ought to be with 



NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION IMPOSSIBLE. 203 

him in all the affections of your heart, in all the powers of your 
mind, in all the services of your life. Angels are with him, the 
redeemed in heaven are with him, and a countless multitude on 
earth on their way to heaven are with him. Are you then, 
dear hearer, with him ; loving his character, devoted to his ser- 
vice, living to his glory ? There is no neutral ground here ; 
for or against, that marks the character and fixes the destiny of 
every hearer of the gospel. There is no room for mistake ; 
or equivocation, or doubt, or excuse. The claims of the Lord 
Jesus Christ are distinctly before you ; you know what they are 
and how they are to be met ; and here in the presence of your 
Redeemer and Judge, the question meets you, and you are 
called to answer it, — for Christ, or against him, gathering with 
him, or scattering abroad? Ponder that question, fellow im- 
mortal ; ponder it with deep and solemn interest ; for on 
the decision of it hangs your eternal destiny. One thing I will 
say at parting; — if it be your unhappy case to be against 
Christ, you are most cordially invited to be for him. Neglected, 
set at naught, opposed as he long has been, he waits still to 
pardon and bless you ; still calls you to quit the ranks of 
his enemies and come over to the side of his friends ; and on 
your complying with this his invitation of kindness and love, 
you have his promise that he will forgive all the past and make 
you welcome to the everlasting joys of his kingdom. He suf- 
fered and . died on the cross that he might extend this great 
mercy and kindness to you, and now intercedes, in all the ten- 
derness of his infinite love, that you turn to him and live ' 
forever, his friend, and an heir of his kingdom of glory. But 
remember, the day of reconciliation will not last always. It 
has an appointed limit ; and found against Christ beyond that 
limit, your state becomes "hopeless forever ; and consequences 
must be met and endured, in a state of endless despair. 



18* 



SERMON XIX. 



UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGER OF INDECISION IN 

RELIGION. 

I. Kings xviii: 21. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long 
halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God follow him ; but if Baal 
then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 

In the time of the Prophet Elijah, the nation of Israel ex- 
hibited the singular spectacle of a people acknowledging Jeho- 
vah to be the true God, while at the same time they worshiped 
and served the idols of the heathen. Without denying the ex- 
istence of the only living and true God, or formally renouncing 
his service, they endeavored to effect a compromise between his 
claims and the claims of Baal, sometimes affecting to serve the 
one and sometimes the other. This indecision, in a matter so 
plain and of such great importance, was deeply displeasing to 
God, and he sent his prophet to expostulate with them on the 
unreasonableness of their conduct. How long halt ye between 
two opinions? If the Lord be God follow him; but if Baal 
then follow him. Come to a decision on this subject. Make up 
your mind, make it up intelligently, and act in accordance with 
your decision. 

It may be presumed that some present are in the state of 
mind indicated in the text. They are halting between conflict- 
ing opinions, not decided for religion, nor fully decided against 
it, but continually vacillating between God and the world, be- 
tween the service of Jehovah and the service of mammon. It 
is to this class of persons, especially, I wish to address myself 
in the present discourse; in doing which I shall, 

I. Show what kind of decision they should come to on the 
subject of religion ; and, 

II. Point out the unreasonableness and danger of remaining 
undecided. 



UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGEE, ETC 205 

I. What kind of decision then should you, as intelligent, im- 
mortal beings, adopt on the great subject of religion? 

1. It should be rational, formed in the calm, thoughtful ex- 
ercise of your intellectual and moral powers. The religion of 
the Bible is not a mere matter of emotion or feeling. It ad- 
dresses itself to the higher faculties of the soul, and beyond 
any other subject that can be named, demands of all to whom 
its claims are presented, a candid and rational investigation. 
Founded in eternal truth, in the immutable relations which sub- 
sist between God and his intelligent creatures, it appeals di- 
rectly to the reason, and asks no one to become its disciple, but 
on the ground of an enlightened conviction of the truth and 
justice of its claims. 

In coming to a decision on this subject then, you are not called 
upon to yield up your understanding and blindly submit to you 
know not what. Our Lord instructed all who would be his dis- 
ciples to sit down first and count the cost — -to make a just esti- 
mate of what they should both gain and lose by becoming his 
followers, and to determine for themselves whether the blessings 
he set before them were a sufficient compensation for the sacri- 
fices they would be called to make in his service. This instruc- 
tion points out your duty. Let reason take her scales and de- 
liberately weigh the claims of religion and the claims of the 
would. Put into one scale all the pleasures and advantages, and 
all the honors and possessions which you can expect from the 
world, and in the other the present consolations, enjoyments and 
hopes, with the future rewards of religion, and holding the bal- 
ance with an even hand, determine which is of the greatest im- 
portance and most worthy of your first and supreme attention, 
as the intelligent, accountable subjects of God's government. 

2. Your decision should be conscientious. As reason is given 
to guide us in what is true ^nd important, so conscience, enlight- 
ened by the word of God, is given to guide us in what is right 
and obligatory, and in religion both these faculties are sum- 
moned to the most vigorous exercise. Lfet conscience then, 
God's vicegerent in the bosom of man, placed there to direct us 
in the high concerns of duty and salvation, be allowed to speak 
out its honest convictions, unperverted by prejudice, unbiassed 
by the workings of a depraved heart. In the secret chambers 
of thought, with the world shut out and its tumults hushed, let 
the claims of religion be brought home and candidly examined 
at the bar of conscience. Consider your relations to God as 



206 UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGER 

the creatures of his power and subjects of his government. 
Think of the solemn obligations that bind you to the throne and 
service of Him, the great Lord of angels and men. Hear his 
voice of authority commanding you to love, honor and serve 
him, and his voice of love calling you to look unto him and live 
for ever. Consider the duty which you owe to yourself, your 
obligation, as a rational immortal being, to provide for the eter- 
nity which is before you. Think of the Saviour who came to 
seek and save them that are lost, and you among them, and of 
the claims which he has on your love, your confidence and your 
obedience. Extend your thoughts beyond the narrow limits of 
time, look to your latter end, to death, judgment and eternity, 
and with your eye fixed on the scenes of amazing interest be- 
fore you, let conscience decide what is duty, what the course 
you ought to pursue in relation to God and the endless existence 
on which you have entered. No subject can be presented to 
you which makes so direct and powerful an appeal to conscience 
as that which now comes before you for decision. It involves 
the highest and most sacred duties of your being, and only the 
most inconsiderate presumption can neglect or refuse to subject 
it to the scrutiny and decision of conscience, the divine monitor 
within, appointed to direct and aid us in the great interests of 
our immortal well-being. 

3. Your decision should be immediate. I could hardly wish, 
were it in my power, to bring you to a resolution to serve God 
at some time hereafter. Such resolution most of you have, 
probably, already formed ; and it has, no doubt, been one chief 
cause of that procrastination, which has kept you till this day, 
without hope and without God in the world. You have been 
living upon a vague, indefinite purpose to attend to the concerns 
of the soul at some future time ; but as you have never decided 
when to begin, that purpose has operated at every successive 
period of life to prevent your giving a present attention to the 
subject, and will, if allowed to retain its place in your bosom, 
induce you to postpone the subject till the day of mercy is closed 
and you are lost for ever. No, my friends, there is nothing, 
either in Scripture or reason, to justify delay in the concerns of 
religion. The matter is too weighty and too urgent to admit of 
delay. It is no time for you to be busy here and there, about 
this thing and that, while the claims of God and the interests 
of your immortality are deferred to a distant, uncertain future 
to be attended to, if need be, when it may suit your convenience 



OP INDECISION IN RELIGION. 207 

To treat the subject of religion in this manner is to trifle with 
your Maker, and put the salvation of your soul to the most 
desperate hazard. You should take up the subject at once and 
come to an immediate decision. It should be immediate, be- 
cause the commands of God are immediate, calling to present 
duty and present obedience, and giving no allowance to procras- 
tinate the claims of religion a single day or hour. It should be 
immediate, because you have no reason for deferring it now^ 
which will not be a reason for deferring it to-morrow, next year, 
and to the end of life. It should be immediate, because every 
day's delay brings with it an increase of guilt, and throws a 
deeper darkness over the prospects of your eternity. It should 
be immediate, because while you neglect to enter upon a life of 
obedience to God, you continually resist the monitions of the 
Holy Spirit and are in danger of being given over to a state of 
hopeless impenitence and sin. It should, in fine, be immediate, 
because you are exposed, at any moment, to die and pass into 
eternity, and because it is perfectly obvious that if religion is 
any thing, it is every thing; if its claims are worthy to be re- 
garded at all, they are worthy of your first and supreme regard, 
and should engage at once the fixed and solemn attention of 
every living man. In a case like this, where eternal life is at 
stake and salvation may hang on a single moment of time, there 
is no room even for the shortest delay. The subject should at 
once come home as of immense and immediate urgency, and no 
rest be allowed to the soul till its immortal hopes are placed on 
a sure foundation. 

4. Let your decision hQ final, such as will endure to the end 
of life and for ever. In making up your mind on this subject, 
your decision, whatever it be, should be based on grounds so 
solid and abiding that there shall be no need to revise or change 
it, and no danger of ultimate failure. So you act, if wise and 
considerate, in the common affairs of life. When about to 
build a house you lay the foundation strong, that so the edifice 
erected upon it may stand secure. Or if you wish to construct 
a dam across a river, liable to sudden and violent floods, you 
deem it essential that the work be done in the most solid and 
substantial manner — the timbers laid deep, interlocked and 
firmly bolted to the rocks, that so it might withstand any inun- 
dation that might rise. Thus should you do in deciding the 
great question of your eternity. The whole of your existence, 
embracing both worlds, should be kept distinctly in view ; you 



208 UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGER 

should recollect that what you do is not for a day or year, but 
for the whole of your future, immortal being, and that conse- 
quences irreparably disastrous and woful must follow from a 
false decision. There should be no presumption, no experi- 
menting, no venturing upon untried, unsafe ground in a case 
like this. All should be deliberate, cautious, settled and perma- 
nent, resting on foundations that will stand amid the ruins of 
the last day. 

With these thoughts in mind, make your decision, make it 
once for all. Having examined the subject in its various rela- 
tions and bearings; having inquired at the mouth of reason and 
conscience, and the oracles of God, what, as an intelligent, im- 
mortal being, you ought to do, make up your mind, and make 
it up so that there shall be no occasion for regret in the day of 
trouble or in the day of death, or in the long years that are to 
roll over you in the state beyond the grave. If Jehovah be 
God decide to follow him; if Baal, follow him. In, either case 
let your decision be final, such as will endure the review of a 
dying hour, and of the judgment bar. And it would be well to 
reduce your decision to form, either expressing it in words, or, 
better, writing it in a book. By doing this you would be ena- 
bled to see what is the state of your heart, on which side of the 
line you stand, whether for or against God, and consequently 
what are your prospects for eternity. 

And now that all of you, who are not yet decided, may be 
persuaded to come to such a decision as has been described — 
rational, conscientious, immediate, and final — let me, as pro- 
posed, 

II. Set before you the unreasonableness and danger of re- 
maining undecided. And, 

1. The subject is one in which you all have a deep personal 
interest. In matters of small importance, remotely if at all 
affecting our duty or our happiness, it is allowable to stand in 
the attitude of indifference and indecision. But that religion 
is a thing of this sort no one will pretend. If there is a God 
at the head of the universe, the moral governor and Judge of 
men; if he has given us a revelation of his will by which we 
are to be ruled in time and judged in eternity ; if created for 
an endless existence, we have fallen from the image and favor 
of our Creator, and as sinners stand exposed to his righteous 
displeasure ; if there is one name, and only one given under 
heaven among riaen, whereby we must be saved ; if neglecting 



OF INDECISION IN RELIGION. 209 

this name, or failing of an interest in Christ as the only 
Saviour of lost men, it is certain that we shall never enter into 
life, but be sent away into everlasting punishment ; if, in short, 
there is a heaven and a hell, and in one or the other of these 
places we are to spend the eternity which is before us, accord- 
ing as we are the friends or the enemies of God, faithful 
Christians or impenitent sinners, in this only state of probation, 
— if these things are so, then, plainly, they are of infinite 
moment to every living man ; and demand of all a direct and 
immediate decision for God and 'salvation ; and to treat them 
with indifference, as many do, or to remain undecided in res- 
pect to them, is the greatest presumption and madness of which 
a human being can be guilty. So you would judge respecting 
a man who should show the same indifference in his temporal 
affairs. Let your neighbor tell you on good authority that 
your property or your life is in danger, aild what would 
be thought if you should treat the information with neglect 
and slumber on in false security, without adopting any means 
to avert or avoid the impending calamity. Might you not 
be charged with an infatuation bordering on insanity? But 
is the conduct of him less unreasonable, who, in despite of in- 
struction and warning from the God of truth, is undecided and 
hesitating in the great and paramount concerns of eternity? 
Rehgion, as I have before said, is every thing, or it is nothing. 
All is at stake or nothing. There is no middle ground, and no 
wise man will rest till the point is decided. It behooves every 
one, in a matter of such infinite concernment, to be fully per- 
suaded in his own mind ; to settle down forever on one side or 
the other of this momentous question. How long halt ye 
between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but 
if Baal, then follow him. If religion is true, then give it the 
first place in your affections and pursuits. But if it be false, 
then dismiss all attention to it, and all hope and fear respecting 
the scenes of another world. Indecision on a subject of this 
kind is inadmissible, it is doing violence to every dictate of rea- 
son and common prudence. , 

2. The subject proposed for your decision is one upon which 
you are every way competent to decide. It is simply this, — 
will you take your proper place before God as your Creator 
and Sovereign, yielding to him the homage of your heart, and 
the obedience of your life, or will you live in rebellion against 
him, setting at naught his authority and refusing submission to 



210 UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGER 

his will. This is, indeed, the one comprehensive question you 
have to decide. Other things may be involved in this question, 
and require, in one form and another, serious consideration. 
But after all, it comes to this, — will you, a rational, immortal 
creature of the only living and true God, love, fear and serve 
him according to his word; or will you cast off fear and 
restrain prayer before him, risking the consequences of an irre- 
ligious, careless life hereafter? There is no need that you 
travel over a wide and intricate field of inquiry, to ascertain 
what you are to believe, and what to do in order to be saved. 
Every thing essential to salvation is plain and open before you. 
Admit a God, a moral government, immortality, a future state 
of rewards and punishments, together with the fact of your be- 
ing a sinner, and of a Saviour provided to deliver you from the 
wrath to come and lead you to heaven, and nothing more is 
needed to lay you under immediate, everlasting obligation to 
repent of sin, believe in Christ and devote yourself to God in 
an obedient. Christian life. 

The points here adverted to are the turning points of man's 
immortal destiny; and to every candid mind, they stand re- 
vealed with the clearness of sunlight. So in regard to the 
practice of religion, God gives you a fair opportunity to exam- 
ine the justness of his claims to your love and homage as his 
creatures, and he submits it to you to choose whether you will 
obey and live, or disobey and die. Life and death are set be- 
fore you, the blessing and the curse, and it is for you to decide 
which you will choose and of course which shall be your 
portion. 

It is to be noticed also, that no perplexity or doubt can arise 
from being obliged to make a selection among many things of 
nearly the same value. Were this the case, you might have 
some ground for hesitation. But there are only two portions 
presented as objects of choice, — repentance with life, and im- 
penitence with death. One or the other of these every man 
must choose, and according to his choice will be his condition 
in the state beyond the grave. There are but two paths into 
eternity, the path of holiness, leading to heaven, and the path 
of sin, leading to hell. There are but two states in the future 
world in which departed souls are to dwell ; the one a state 
of perfect holiness and blessedness, the other a state of un- 
mixed sin, and everlasting misery. In one or the other 
of these states each of my hearers must soon be fixed and 



OP INDECISION IN RELIGION. 211 

fixed forever. And God calls upon you, one and all, to make 
your choice now. He points out the way and he shows you 
the end, and then leaves you to decide how you will act. And 
is it not unreasonable to be undecided in a matter so plain and 
of such infinite importance ? Many excuses, I am aware, are 
wont to be urged for neglecting to come to a decision, or 
for not obeying God. But which of these excuses, dear 
hearer, does God allow to be just, which of them would you 
<}hoo3e to urge on your trial at the last day, as an apology for 
indecision in religion, or which of them would avail as a ground 
of justification in the presence of the Omniscient Judge ? Is 
there one of all your excuses which you would be able to 
retain a moment on your dying bed, or if the solemn scenes of 
eternity were now to open to your view ? No, my friends, no ; 
God is right in all his requirements, and man is wrong in every 
hour's delay of obedience. There is no excuse and there can 
be none for not loving and serving the ever blessed God, and 
this every intelligent being on earth will be compelled, sooner 
or later, to acknowledge and feel. 

3. You will never have a better opportunity than the present 
for coming to a decision on this subject. The revelation of God 
is closed. No clearer light will ever shine to mark out for you 
the path of duty, or guide you in the way to life. The great 
day will illustrate the truths of the sacred volume, and confirm 
all its declarations, but till that day comes, not another line will 
be written or another word uttered by the Spirit of inspiration 
to solve your doubts or bring you to a decision on the great 
concern of salvation. Nor will any motives ever be presented 
more powerful than you now have to persuade you to choose 
whom you will serve, and what shall be your portion in the fu- 
ture world. Nay, the Saviour himself, has decided, that if the 
motives placed before you in the Bible, fail to bring you to re- 
pentance, you would not repent though one rose from the dead. 
And as to your expectation of a more convenient season, that 
will never come. Have you yet to learn that the only effect 
of procrastination is to harden the heart, lay the conscience 
asleep and shut out light and salvation from the soul ? Look to 
the past ; do you not see that at each successive stage of your 
journey, ditficulties have been increasing in the way of pressing 
in at the strait gate ? The season of youth is the most favora- 
ble period for entering into the path of life. That passed 
away, the busy cares of manhood crowd in, and with a host of 
19 



212 UNREASONABLENESS AND DANGER 

sinful propensities grown strong by indulgence, stifle the voice 
of conscience, and steel the heart against the impression of di- 
vine things. Next comes declining age, chilled with the frosts 
of the winter of life, bending under a load of evil habits, and 
stepping into the grave, without hope in God or meetness for 
heaven. And can you expect exemption from the common 
laws of our being ; or can you put off the claims of religion 
without bringing upon you the consequences of so doing ? Be 
not deceived. Every day's delay in this matter multiplies the 
obstacles to your conversion, and throws a deeper gloom over 
the prospects of your eternity. Have you passed the period of 
youth ? The most hopeful season for entering upon a religious 
life is gone never to be recalled. Have you passed the me- 
ridian of your days a stranger to God and religion ? Alas, the 
scene before you is dark indeed ; and it only remains that you 
awake at once out of sleep, and lay hold on eternal life, else 
your feet will soon stumble on the dark mountains and you will 
fall to rise no more forever. Consider, 

4. How many and how great evils you incur by delay. 
There is the evil of being continually dissatisfied with yourself. 
While undecided you know that you are neglecting the first 
and greatest duty of your being, and you cannot have the 
peace of an approving mind. Thoughts of death and eternity 
will obtrude, and when they come, then come remorse and fear, 
and painful apprehension of consequences awaiting you on your 
removal to another world. There is the evil of constant diso- 
bedience to God. His command is that you give him your 
heart, and serve him in a life of holy obedience ; that command 
is binding upon you now ; and you cannot therefore remain un- 
decided, or hesitate whom you will serve, God or the world, 
without discarding the .authority of your Maker and bringing 
upon you the guilt of a constant resistance of his will. There 
is the evil of having all your religious duties rendered worthless 
in the sight of God, and useless to yourself. For, while yoii 
are halting between two opinions, undetermined whether to 
serve God or mammon, it is impossible you should have any 
right state of feeling, or perform any duty in a manner accept- 
able to the Omniscient Being with whom you have to do. You 
are not honest, you are not sincere in any one service or duty 
you may perform, and this impresses a character of worthless- 
ness upon all, even your most specious observances. 

There is, in fine, the evil of grieving the Holy Spirit, and of 



OF INDECISION IN RELIGION. 213 

provoking God to abandon you forever. For, what can be 
more displeasing to God than this baking between two opinions, 
this vaccinating between Jehovah and the world, between 
heaven and hell ; this knowing your duty and refusing to do it ; 
this having the glories of immortal life brought to your accept- 
ance, and then putting them away for the fleeting vanities of 
earth and time. And if any sinners are ever given over to a 
reprobate mind so that the Holy Spirit ceases to strive with 
them, what class is more in danger of being thus abandoned, 
than the one we have been describing ? Such are some of the 
evils of indecision in religion, — enough, one would think, to ap- 
pal the stoutest heart, and bring every wavering mind to decide 
at once and forever to be on the Lord's side. 

5. But there is another view of the subject which I must not 
fail to present, — I refer to the advantages you would gain by 
being decided. Peace of mind you would gain, with the ap- 
probation and favor of God ; deliverance from the curse and 
bondage of sin and the fear of death ; fellowship with the 
righteous, and joy with the ransomed of the Lord ; protection 
and guidance from on high, amid all the changes and trials of 
life, a hope full of immortality, a present heritage of promise 
and of blessing, a peaceful death, and a crown of glory that 
fadeth not away — ^11 this would you gain by deciding to devote 
yourself to the service and kingdom of God. And shall it not 
prevail ? What so reasonable, what so right, what so glorious, 
as to be decided forever in the cause of God, and so embraced 
forever in the arms of his never failing friendship and love ? 

6. One thing more I must add, — If you do not decide soon 
it will be forever too late ; the question will be taken out of 
your hands to be decided at a tribunal from which there is no 
appeal, and you will be left to mourn forever the consequences 
of that miserable indecisioij which you can not now be per- 
suaded to abandon. 

Dear hearer, delaying, undecided fellow immortal, you tread 
every moment on the brink of time, and live on the eve of 
judgment. To-day is yours, to-morrow is not. To-day is a 
day of mercy when you are invited to come to God and be 
saved ; to-morrow it may be too late ; you may pass the line of 
mercy, and your state be sealed for a long eternity. Is this 
then, a time to procrastinate the concerns of the soul, and live 
unmeet for heaven ? What is it that calls for your decision ? 
It is whether you will take God or the world as your portion ; 



214 THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION 

it is -whether you will live to yourself, or to the Saviour who- 
died to redeem you ; it is, in a word, whether you will accept 
of mercy freely offered you in the gospel and be eternally 
blessed in heaven, or reject the offer, and die in your sins and 
lie down in everlasting despair. And is this a matter about 
which an intelligent, immortal being should hesitate or remain 
undecided ? Awake, I pray you, to the momentous interests 
that are at stake, and rest not till you can look up to God, with 
humble confidence, as your reconciled Father and friend, and 
be able to say with one of old — my heart is fixed, O God, my 
heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise. 



SERMON XX. 

THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION IN THE GOSPEL SALTATION- 

Hebrews ii : 3. — so great salvation. 

The Apostle, you perceive, does not in these words, attempt 
to tell us just how great salvation is. He probably felt respect- 
ing it much as he did in regard to the love of Christ, that it 
has a breadth and length and depth and height, which passeth 
knowledge. He could therefore express his views of it no bet- 
ter than by giving utterance to the words — so great salvation. 
Great it certainly is ; so great, that we can conceive of none 
greater; great in its origin, springing from the infinite, everlast- 
ing love of God ; great in its object, designed to rescue fallen 
man from sin and death, and restore him to the image and favor 
of his Maker ; great in the manner of its accomplishment, re- 
quiring the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, and the apply- 
ing agency of the spirit of God ; great also in its results, gath- 
ering a countless multitude of our lost race into the fold of the 
Saviour,, and crowning them with immortal life and blessedness 



IN THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 215 

in the kingdom of glory. But it is not my present design to 
dwell on the greatness of the gospel salvation. I wish rather 
to direct your attention to some of the elements of impression 
and persuasion contained in that salvation; to show you its 
adaptation to your character and wants, and its means of appeal 
to the conscience and the heart of all to whom it is addressed. 
I observe then, 

1. In the first place, the salvation of the gospel commends 
itself to your most serious regards and most ready reception by 
the fact that it comes to you as a direct personal concern. It 
is not a frigid abstraction, not a dark, distant speculation, or a 
provision of grace applicable only to the inhabitants of some 
other world, but not to that in which you live. No, it is a rev- 
elation of mercy for man, for universal man ; of course a reve- 
lation of mercy for each and every one of us. The salvation 
procured by Christ and brought before us in the gospel goes 
upon the assumption of the fact that men are lost, all lost in sin, 
condemned by the law of God, and in danger of perishing for 
ever. On this ground it addresses itself to every man, as what 
every man needs and must possess, or eternally lie under the 
guilt and punishment of sin. Its offers of pardon and its pro- 
visions of grace are proclaimed, indiscriminately, as applicable 
to all, and needed by all, of every age, character and condition 
in life; and hence the concern of each and of all in the salva- 
tion of the gospel is just as personal and just as urgent as is the 
pardon of sin, the friendship of God and the everlasting happi- 
ness of the soul. There is not one among you to whom the 
remark now made does not apply in all its extent and force. 
Whether young or old, rich or poor, elevated or obscure, you 
are all equally concerned to possess an interest in the salvation 
of Christ, as opening before you the only door of pardon and 
acceptance with God your Sovereign and Judge. And this is 
an element of persuasion which, it would seem, could not fail to 
rouse the attention, interest the feelings and draw forth the 
efforts of all and every one to whom salvation is offered. It is 
a direct, personal concern. You can not neglect it, you can not 
put it away or be indifferent to it on the ground that it is- not 
applicable to you, or that you have no need of what it offers 
you. No, the salvation of the gospel is a matter that comes 
home to the heart and conscience, to the bosom and business of 
every human being to whom it is offered ; and in this view every 
hearer present should feel, as we advance in unfolding the na- 
19* 



216 THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION 

ture and design of the great salvation, it was meant for me; I 
need this salvation, and my immortal all is involved in my ac- 
ceptance of it in faith and love. 

2. The salvation of the gospel embodies great and affecting 
truths ; and this is another element of persuasion which it brings 
to bear on the mind and heart of man. First of all, it unveils 
the character of God to your view in a new and most affecting 
light. It calls you to look to him, not merely in the character 
of a righteous lawgiver, moral governor, and just judge, but of 
a kind and merciful father, calling you to return to his bosom 
and his love, and proffering you pardon and everlasting happi- 
ness in Christ the Mediator. It holds up to your view the great 
truth that this Christ, the Son of God, has interposed in your 
behalf, has been in the world on your account, has by his suffer- 
ings and death made atonement for sin, and opened a way 
whereby God can justify and save you consistently with his 
holiness, his justice and his truth. He is the author of salva- 
tion, he procured it at the price of his own precious blood, and 
now offers it, in all its fullness and excellence, to your accept- 
ance. And while thus the great salvation reminds you of the 
everlasting love of God, and of the infinite grace and kindness 
of the Saviour, it sets before you another truth in the most im- 
pressive light — I mean the truth of your own lost and utterly 
helpless condition as a sinner. In the very fact of offering you 
mercy it proclaims you condemned, and in seeking to raise you 
to life and heaven it shows you to be exposed to death and hell. 
And while it thus discloses your own deep poverty and wretch- 
edness, and points you to an Almighty Sovereign in Christ the 
Son of God, it presses on your attention another great truth — 
that of the helping agency of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is 
to take of the things of Christ and show them unto men; who 
visits the heart and the conscience with his tender,' awakening 
influence, and mercifully guides to peace and hope all who listen 
to his voice and yield to the drawings of his love. This, I re- 
peat, is a great truth; and it is a truth brought directly to bear 
on your mind every time salvation is proclaimed in your hear- 
ing. Every such proclamation tells you not only that you are 
now placed under a system of grace and mercy, but that the 
Holy Spirit, according to the promise of the Saviour, is abroad 
among men, to give effect to divine truth, renewing human 
hearts and forming human souls meet for heaven; and his help 
is offered to you as it is offered to all. 



IN THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 217 

Of other truths embodied in salvation I can not now speak at 
length. It brings clearly to light the great doctrine of immor- 
tality, and attaches a value to every human soul greater than 
that of the whole world. It tells you of a covenant ordered in 
all things and sure, which may be yours, with all its blessings ; 
it tells you of peace, and hope, and joy in believing; of the 
light of God's countenance, and of his promised care and guid- 
ance of you through all the journey of life ; of his presence 
and support in the hour of death ; of his approval and accept- 
ance of you on the great day of judgment and account ; of a 
heaven of eternal glory and blessedness into which he will re- 
ceive you, if you embrace this salvation, and of a hell of in- 
conceivable guilt and misery into which you must sink, if you 
fail of the grace that is offered you. 

Now the truths here adverted to — all included and set forth 
in salvation — are the most weighty and impressive that can be 
suggested as intelligible to the mind of man. Of vast impor- 
tance in themselves, they derive a greatly increased power of 
impression and persuasion from the fact that they are truths in- 
Christ, sanctioned by his authority, pervaded by his love, de- 
monstrative of his grace, and adapted and designed to bring the 
soul to rest in him as the only and all-sufficient Saviour of lost 
man. 

3. It is another element of impression and persuasion in the 
salvation of the gospel that it is perfectly free and gratuitous. 
If you were confined in hopeless bondage in a strange land, 
with no hope of self-deliverance, and one unsolicited, a prince of 
royal blood, should, at a great expense of treasure and toil, pro- 
cure your release and send you a document to that effect, the 
transaction would strike you as one of great kindness, and you 
could not fail, unless you had a heart of stone, to be deeply af- 
fected with a 'sense of indebtedness to so generous a benefactor^ 

Now it is on this wise that the salvation of Christ comes to 
you. It is an unsolicited favor; it was procured at an infinite 
price; it offers you deliverance, complete and eternal, from the 
most terrible form of bondage — the bondage of sin and death, — 
and all as a gratuity. It comes to you without money and 
without price. You are invited to take of it freely — of pardon, 
grace and eternal glory, in all their fullness and excellence — 
freely. This is the tenor of the gospel salvation. It is from 
first to last a free salvation. It finds you poor, needy, perishing 
— lying under the power and the curse of sin ; in the condition 



218 THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION 

of the servant who owed his lord ten thousand talents and had 
nothing to pay. And the provisions which it brings with it are 
perfectly adapted to the exigencies of your case — forgiveness 
of sin ; grace to deliver you from the power of sin ; to enlighten, 
sanctify and renew your soul, after the image of him that cre- 
ated you ; to animate with hope, to sustain with strength, to 
cheer you with peace and joy through all the journey of life, 
and finally raise you to immortal blessedness in heaven. This 
is what salvation proposes to do for you, and to do for you 
freely, with no other return, on your part, but that you grate- 
fully receive its blessings, and obediently yield the soul to him 
who is the gracious author of all this infinite good. Here, cer- 
tainly, is an element of persuasion greater than can be found in 
any other system of good ever proposed for man's acceptance. 
The good offered is from God, the Saviour; it is a good of in- 
finite value; is adapted to all the wants of the soul for time 
and eternity ; and it is offered freely to all who will accept it. 

4. The salvation of the gospel has great power of appeal to 
the heart and mind of man. In its planning and execution it 
embodies the wisdom and love of God, and in its applica- 
tion, it brings to bear on the inner man all the most affecting 
influences of which we can form any conception. It draws 
these influences from man and from God, from earth and from 
heaven, from time and from eternity. It invests itself with all 
that is interesting and attractive, with all that is grand and im- 
pressive, derivable from these several sources, and with the 
whole it makes its appeal to man. It appeals to the understand- 
ing through the medium of the great truths to which I have 
before adverted, and it always carries with it the assent of the 
understanding to its claims, however it may fail in subduing the 
will to obedience. It appeals to the conscience by bringing to 
bear on this faculty the claims of God and duty, and there is 
not one of you who is not obliged to yield the convictions of 
conscience to all that is required of you in the gospel of salva- 
tion. It appeals to your sense of want, to the deep irrepressi- 
ble feeling within, that you need a better portion than this world 
can give you, even a portion in the everlasting friendship of 
God; and when it comes to you with the proffer of this infinite 
good, it often costs you many a struggle ere you can turn away 
from it and choose in its stead the vain things of earth and 
time. It appeals to your gratitude, and while it tells you of the 
love of Christ, and lays before you the infinite blessings of his 



IN THE GOSPEL SALTATION. 219' 

purchase, you can not withhold the admission that mercy so great 
and goodness so unbounded demand returns of the most affec- 
tionate thankfulness and praise. It appeals to your hopes ; and 
while it points you to the endless glories of heaven and invites 
you to an inheritance among the saints in light, you can not but 
feel that a good is set before you, as an object of aspiration and 
hope, in comparison with which all that the world contains is 
not worth naming. It appeals, in fine, to your fears ; and while 
it warns you of the wrath to come, and offers you deliverance 
from this infinite evil, your whole inner man admonishes you to 
flee from so tremendous a doom, and you tremble when you 
think of going into eternity in your own naked character as a 
sinner, with no interest in Christ, and no meetness for a place 
in his presence in heaven. Thus directly and impressively does 
the salvation of the gospel make its appeals to all to whom it is 
addressed. It speaks with a voice of tenderness and power to 
all the sensibilities and faculties of the soul. It addresses the 
reason, the conscience, the heart; your gratitude, your hopes, 
your fears, your wants. In all these ways it urges you to return 
to God and secure the infinite good which it offers to your ac- 
ceptance. You can not conceive of any system more perfectly 
adapted to rouse the mind, affect the heart, and draw to obedi- 
ence and God, than that which is included in the salvation of- 
fered you in the gospel. So that if what is brought before you 
in the great salvation fail to impress and to move, we need not 
hesitate to affirm that you would remain unimpressed and un- 
moved under any system of means that could be devised or 
conceived. 

5. Let us notice next, the results at which the salvation of 
the gospel aims. These are partly present and partly future ; 
some in this life, and some in the life to come. The present 
results of salvation, are pardon, peace and joy in believing ; 
reconciliation to God, adoption into his family, the sealing in- 
fluences of the Holy Spirit, as an earnest of eternal life, a hope 
full of immortality, with the blessings of God's presence and 
favor in life, and his support and guidance amid all the vicis- 
situdes and trials of our earthly pilgrimage. Salvation accept- 
ed, as it is offered in Christ, delivers the soul from the power 
and curse of sin, sets a man in harmony with himself and 
in harmony with God ; sheds a heavenly light over all his 
future prospects, opens to him new and ^exhaustless sources of 
enjoyment in life, stands by and supports him in his final hour^ 



220 THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION 

and enables him to sing, as he goes down into the dark valley^ 
— The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want ; I know in 
whom I have believed and am persuaded that he will keep 
what I have committed to him against that day. These 
are the results of salvation in respect to the present life, — re- 
sults that have been realized in all their richness and glory by 
countless multitudes of our race who have finished their course 
on earth, and gone home to their eternal rest. 

But who can speak of the results of salvation, as they will 
be developed in the kingdom of everlasting glory and bless- 
edness ? The Scriptures assure us that they are such as eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man con- 
ceived. Salvation completed is everlasting happiness ; happi- 
ness in the presence of God and the Lamb, — pure, perfect, all- 
satisfying ; an exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; fulness 
of joy and pleasures forever more in the presence of the infi- 
nite Father, in the society of angels, and of just men made per- 
fect. All this is included in salvation ; all this it proffers 
to every one in whose hearing it is proclaimed ; and can any- 
thing be conceived better adapted to arrest the attention, 
to move the affections, or prompt to desire and effort to possess 
a good so vast, and so ever enduring ? 1 must add, 

6. That another element of impression and persuasion in 
this salvation lies in the fact that the offer of it is made to you 
only for a short time ; and when withdrawn there is no more 
hope for eternity. A ship's crew, wrecked at sea, are thrown 
upon a rock surrounded by waves that are fast rising to sweep 
them away. A boat passing by offers to take them off, if 
they will at once step on board. They hesitate, linger, re- 
fuse ; the opportunity is lost, and they miserably perish. Like 
unto 'this is the offer of salvation made to you in the gos- 
pel. You are wrecked, in a moral sense; fallen and ruined 
in sin. You stand awhile on the shores of time, but the ocean 
of eternity is washing away the sands at your feet. A mo- 
ment hence you are swept from the scenes of earth, and 
are fixed in an eternal state. Li these circumstances of deep 
and solemn interest mercy interposes in your behalf. ' She 
passes by in the ark of salvation, and kindly offers to take you 
in and bear you safely to the haven of eternal rest. But 
the offer can be continued only for a short time. Neglected to- 
day, it may be too late to-morrow. The life-boat is passing by, 
if you step on board now, you shall be saved ; but refusing to 



IN THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 221 

do so, the opportunity is lost and you perish forever. And how 
fitted is this view of the subject to give impression and effect to 
the proffer of salvation, made you in the gospel ? You know 
not how soon it may be withdrawn, and your condition become 
hopeless for eternity. This only you know, that you are a crea- 
ture of a day ; a lost sinner, placed here for a short, uncertain 
time, under a dispensation of mercy, where pardon and life are 
offered you, and you may accept them and be saved. In a few 
days, how few you know not, the season of mercy closes ; the 
term of your probation comes to an end ; you die, pass into 
eternity, with a character unmeet for heaven, and, with all 
your guilt upon you, are fixed in a state, where the voice of 
mercy is never heard and hope never comes. If anything can 
rouse attention, or prompt to effort, or lead to an immediate ac- 
ceptance of salvation, it is certainly the being in such a condi- 
tion as has now been described. It is as if mercy were to 
plead with you by the side of your dying bed ; as if she were 
to press her entreaties just on your entrance into eternity, or in 
the presence of the great white throne before which you must 
shortly appear in judgment. 

I here close, and while I earnestly desire and pray that what 
has been said may not be in vain to those to whom I have 
especially addressed this message of grace, I feel constrained 
to add, that if any of you perish from under the calls and 
appeals of the gospel salvation, you will perish needlessly ; per- 
ish by your own hand, and will forever lie under the corroding, 
terrible reflection that you destroyed yourselves, destroyed your- 
selves when mercy was pleading for your life, and the door of 
salvation was open, inviting you to enter in and^e saved. 



SERMON XXI. 

ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF G-OD. 
Joshua xxiv: 15. Choose ye this day -whom ye will serve. 

This proposal was made by Joshua to the assembled tribes 
of Israel not long before his death. Sensible that the time of 
his departure was at hand, he gathered the people together at 
Shechem, and delivered to them his last instructions and coun- 
sels. Having rehearsed the dealings of God with them and 
their fathers, and called to their remembrance the mighty deliv- 
erances wrought in their behalf, in bringing them from their 
bondage in Egypt to the quiet possession of the land of prom- 
ise, their venerable leader, now about to take his final leave of 
them, pressed home the reasonable duty of their being hence- 
forth entirely sincere and established in the service of the Lord 
their God. Now therefore, he says, fear the Lord and serve 
him in sincerity and truth, — And if it seem evil unto you to 
serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom ye will serve. It 
would seem, that there were among the spiritual worshippers, 
not a few, who, though they did not openly renounce the wor- 
ship of the tr%e God, cherished a secret dislike to it, and were 
continually vacillating in their minds between tlie service of 
Jehovah and the service of idols. Of this state of mind in a 
portion' of the people Joshua was perfectly aware, and he 
therefore took occasion to urge upon them the necessity of 
coming to a decision. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. 
Not that the people whom he addressed, were at liberty to 
choose the service of idols, but he would lead them to reflect 
upon the inconsistency and sin of being undecided in a matter 
of such infinite importance, and would bring them to engage, 
without delay and with full purpose of heart, in the service of 
the Lord their God. The proposal, it would seem, was 
acceded to by the great body of the people, and with one voice 
they said unto Joshua, — The Lord our God will we serve, and 



ON CHOOSIXa THE SERVICE OF GOD. 223 

his voice will we obey. To ratify this engagement, thus sol- 
emnly and deliberately entered into, Joshua made a covenant 
with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordi- 
nance in Shechem. And he took a great stone and set it up by 
the sanctuary of the Lord, that it might be a witness to them 
in all future time, of their having solemnly devoted themselves 
to the service of God. 

Tiie assembly now before me is, in character, not altogether 
unlike that to which the exhortation of our text was originally 
addressed. Of those who compose it, some are professedly, 
and no doubt really, the friends of God, while others, though 
acknowledging the truth and importance of religion, are unde- 
cided and hesitating as to whom they will serve; and others 
still who are so immersed in the spirit and pursuits of the world, 
as to give themselves very little concern respecting the subject. 
Asking those who have already chosen God as their portion to 
follow the endeavor with earnest prayer, that it be not in vain, 
I state it as the object of this discourse, to persuade, if possible, 
one and all of this audience who are not yet decided, to comply 
with the proposal in our text, — to choose this day whom they 
will serve. 

Before adducing arguments in favor of the duty in ques- 
tion, let us fix distinctly in our minds what is meant by it. A 
great deal of confusion and useless speculation will be avoided 
if we can show you clearly what is meant by the choice or 
purpose which we wish to persuade you to adopt. You are 
called then to choose whom you will serve ; who shall be your 
Master, the object of your supreme love and service. This 
implies that there are at least two objects between which you 
are to choose. These are God and the world ; the service of 
your Creator and the service of mammon. Not that you are 
at liberty to choose the service of the world, or mammon with- 
out incurring guilt and exposing yourself to punishment. But 
both sides of the alternative are placed before you, that you 
may clearly see their relative value, and decide rationally which 
shall be the object of your preference. The real aim of Joshua 
in making the proposal in the text was to bring the people of Is- 
rael to choose, from the heart, the service of the true God, and 
to renounce every object and interest that came in competition 
with this or was inconsistent with it. To the same point do we 
aim to bring those whom we now address. We wish to per- 
suade you to fix your choice on God, as the object of your su- 
20 



224 ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 

preme love, and on his service as that which you prefer to the 
service of any other master. You will observe here, that it is 
an act of choice, of preference to which you are called ; one 
of the most familiar, every day acts of the mind. You are 
called to change masters ; to renounce the world as your portion 
and to choose God as your portion ; to submit to his authority 
and control, and henceforth live, not to yourself, but to him who 
died for you and rose again. And this act of choice or prefer- 
ence is of the nature of a supreme, governing purpose of the 
mind, — such a purpose as gives direction to the current of feel- 
ing and desire in the soul ; as subordinates to itself all the infe- 
rior principles of our nature, and fixes upon the service of God, 
not as a task or as a burden, but as that which is right and ' 
good, and is deemed, all things considered, most desirable and 
excellent. In short, the choice of God to which we would 
persuade you, is such a choice as will lead you cheerfully to 
renounce every thing which is inconsistent with his will, and 
to yield up the soul, voluntarily and cheerfully, in obedience to 
his commands. What now are the considerations which should 
lead you to make such a choice ? I answer, 

1. It is right. On this point, dismissing all abstract argu- 
ment, I may appeal directly to the understanding and conscience 
of those whom I address. Say, then, my friends, is it not right 
that you should choose God as your portion and his service as 
that which should engage your supreme regards ? He is in 
himself a Being of boundless excellence and glory ; your Cre- 
ator, Preserver, Benefactor and Ruler. It is from him that 
you derive your being, your capacities of action and enjoyment, 
and all the blessings and privileges that distinguish your lot in 
life. And do not circumstances like these create the highest 
possible obligations of reverence and love, of obedience and 
service? I need not enlarge. Every dictate of reason and 
conscience, every noble and generous feeling within, decides, at 
once, that it is right to give God the first and supreme place in 
your affections, that you should choose his service in preference 
to that of any other master or being in the universe. And if 
this is right why should it not be done and done to day ? Why 
should not the sacred and endearing relations which you sustain 
to the God of your life and of your mercies, be acknowledged, 
and the service growing out of those relations, be at once and 
cheerfully rendered him ? That which is right now ought to be 
done now, and there is no excuse for any, even the least delay. 



ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 225 

2. The duty in question is enjoined by express command of 
God. It is so in the text, which, though originally addressed 
to the people of Israel, is, in its true spirit and import, applica- 
ble to all to whom it is announced. Choose ye this day whom 
ye will serve. The same is commanded in this passage, — How 
long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, fol- 
low him ; but if Baal, then follow him, — and in this, — My son 
give me thy heart; and in this, — Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart; and in this, — Thou shalt have no 
other gods before me. Indeed the duty of choosing the service 
of God, of fixing the choice on him as the supreme object of 
affection and obedience, is directly implied in all the specific 
commands addressed to us in the Bible. "Whether the command 
be to repent, or believe, or love, or submit, or to perform any 
act of obedience, it necessarily involves the duty of choosing 
God as the Master whom we will serve. For without such a 
choice no service can be rendered to God, and no one of his 
commands obeyed. This is the primary act, the first move- 
ment of the mind in obedience to God. Let it be remembered 
then that the duty we are considering is enforced by the 
express authority of the great Lord of all, and is reiterated 
in your hearing in every particular precept or command con- 
tained in his word. It is a duty that grows out of the very 
constitution of your being, and the relations you sustain to God 
as the creatures of his pow^r and the benificiaries of his boun- 
ty ; and enforced as it is by his own infinite authority, you can 
never be released from its binding force either in this w^orld or 
the next. Fix your thoughts here my friends. The duty of 
choosing God as the Being whom you will serve is recognized 
as right at the bar of your own minds, and is enjomed by the 
express authority of the great Ruler of the world. Why then 
should you not make the choice and make it now ? "Why not 
yield the soul in voluntary obedience to the God who made and 
upholds you in being, and who, you can not but acknowledge, is 
entitled to the supreme love and service of all his intelligent 
creatures ? Consider, 

3. That this is a duty which perfectly accords with the na- 
ture and destiny of the intelligent, immortal mind with which 
the Creator has endued you. The mind is formed for God, is 
formed for his service and glory. It possesses reason, conscience, 
the power of choice, and is destined to an immortal existence. 
In whose service now can such a mind so rationally employ its 



226 ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 

faculties and exercise its affections, as in the service of the all 
perfect God? You have understanding which distinguishes you 
from the brute and allies you to angelic natures ; and how can 
you occupy this noblest faculty of your n&ture so well as in 
studying to know, to serve and honor the God who made 
you and so be prepared to enjoy him forever ? You have con- 
science, or the power to discern between right and wrong, and 
to feel the obligation to choose the right and avoid the wrong; 
and to what duty does this faculty point so directly or urge so 
forcibly as that of rendering to God the highest and best ser- 
vice of your being? You bear on your soul the impress of 
immortality; you have a capacity and a desire for a happiness 
that shall endure when the scenes of earth and time shall have 
vanished away, — and where but in God will you find such a 
happiness ? Or where but in him will you find a portion that 
will fill the desires of the immortal mind, or abide with you in 
that eternal state to which you are going? Creatures of God,, 
why should you not acknowledge and treat him as your Crea- 
tor; children of his power, why should you not love audi 
serve him as your Father; subjects of his government, why 
should you not submit to his authority and obey him as your 
Euler and King ? Created for his service and for his enjoy- 
ment, why should you not seek in him your chief good and 
secure now, by the choice of him as your everlasting portion, 
that unfailing interest in his friendship and love, which you will 
soon need in the world to which you are going, and without 
which you must be miserable forever ? 

4. The choice of God, as the Being whom you will serve, i& 
the sum and substance of religion ; and you ought all to be 
religious ; friends of God and followers of the Saviour. What is 
religion? Some throw a great deal of mystery around this 
question, and think and speak of it as if it were very difiicult 
to understand or explain it. But is it so in fact ? I repeat the 
question; what is religion? It is in its nature exceedingly 
simple. It is thinking, feeling and acting right in regard to 
God, your Maker and Redeemer. It is choosing Him and his 
service in preference to the world and its service. It is setting 
the mind, the heart, on Christ, as the Master whom you will 
love and obey, and adhering steadfastly to that, as the supreme, 
governing object of your soul. In this are included the essen- 
tial elements of all true religion. For he, who makes choice of 
God in the manner here indicated, will of course repent of sin,. 



ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 227 

believe in Christ, and devote himself, unreservedly and cheer- 
fully to his service and glory. Having taken his position as a 
servant, and yielded himself to God as a Master, he will hence- 
forth feel that he is not his own, but entirely the property of 
another, and his great aim will be, not to live to himself, but to 
him who died for him and rose again. Make the choice in 
question then, renounce the world as your master and take God 
as your master, fixing the soul's preference on him and his ser- 
vice as that which above all things you esteem right and best, — 
do this and you become a truly religious man, a Christian, a 
child of God and an heir of heaven. Your moral position, in 
regard to God and his government, and in regard to your state 
and prospects for eternity, would, in consequence, be entirely 
changed ; from an alien and an outcast, you would become a 
loyal subject, pardoned and accepted in the Beloved, and estab- 
lished in the hope of eternal life. 

5. Every man must choose either God or the world as his 
portion ; and according as he chooses the one or the other, so 
is his character in the sight of God, and his condition in eter- 
nity. It is decided by our Saviour, that no man can serve two 
masters ; that he will love the one and hate the other, or he 
will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye can not serve 
God and mammon. It is also decided by the same authority, 
that every man must and will serve some master ; that every 
one who is not for him, is against him, and that he who gathers 
not with him scattereth abroad. Neutrality in this case is im- 
possible. Here then, is the point on which turns your eternal 
destiny. Two objects are before you, God and the world ; two 
services are presented, the service of the Lord your Maker, 
and the service of sin and Satan. Which will you choose, 
which will you prefer ? One or the other every one of you 
must choose, must prefer ; and according as you decide for the 
one or the other, so in the sight of God is your character and 
state, as a friend or an enemy, as pardoned or condemned. 
Here is the parting point between the two great classes of 
God's moral and accountable subjects, between friends and ene- 
mies. Here every man is obliged to take his stand, and to 
choose whom he will serve. Fix your thoughts then, upon the 
two great objects that are presented to your choice, — God and 
the world ; the service of Jehovah and the service of self and 
sin. Reflect upon the glory and excellence of the one, and the 
meanness and poverty of the other ; upon the joy and blessed- 
20* 



228 ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 

ness connected with serving the one, and upon the guilt and 
misery inseparable from serving the other ; and holding these 
contrasted objects in clear vision before the mind, decide whom 
you will serve, and what shall be your supreme object of affec- 
tion and pursuit. You are not called to decide in this case 
without deliberation and forethought. On the contrary, you 
are required to bring all your faculties to bear on the subject; 
your reason to survey evidence and estimate results ; your con- 
science to decide what is right and what is wrong in the 
case, and your power of choice to determine in view of all the 
light shed upon the subject, whether you will serve God, or re- 
fuse to serve him, and set up an idol in his stead. It is a mat- 
ter submitted to your decision, to your choice, by him who is to 
judge you at the last day, — a matter on which you must and 
will decide and choose; and it becomes you in making up your 
mind how you will act, solemnly to consider that the decision, 
the choice, is made under the eye of your final Judge ; that it 
stamps your character, in his sight, either as a friend or an en- 
emy, and brings you under the sentence of his pardoning mercy 
or condemning justice. 

6. There is nothing either within or without you, which 
need prevent your choosing the service of God. He who 
knows perfectly your frame, your intellectual and moral facul- 
ties, and all the circumstances of your condition, — he, the God 
who made and upholds you in being, calls you to enter into his 
service, to choose him as your Lord and portion. And this one 
fact settles it forever, that you have no excuse whatever, for 
neglecting this duty. Excuses, I know you may allege, and 
many of them ; but is there one, I ask, which you can make 
good in the face of the plain command of God, that you enter 
without delay into his service ? Is there one of them which 
you would dare plead in your dying hour, or which you believe 
will avail you on the great day of judgment ? Here you are 
fallen and ruined in sin, I admit ; and in yourself utterly lost 
and beyond help from any arm of flesh. But just in this state 
it is, that the gospel meets you with its provisions of grace ; 
provisions devised by infinite wisdom and goodness for the ex- 
press purpose of raising you from your fallen state, and restor- 
ing you to the favor and service of God ; and they contain 
every thing that is needed to meet the deepest necessities of 
your condition. They are provisions of pardon for your guilt,, 



ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 229 

of strengtii for your weakness, of light for your darkness and 
of grace to renew, to sanctify and prepare you for heaven. 
They are spread before you, not as mere passive machines, but 
as free moral agents, and you are called to avail yourself of 
them, and on the ground of the help they afford, especially the 
all sufficient help of the Holy Spirit included in them, to break 
from the service of sin and enter forthwith into the service of 
God. And what should prevent you from doing this, and doing 
it now ? What but your choosing not to do it? Here lies the 
difficulty, and the only difficulty in your case. It is in a volun- 
tary, settled preference of the world to God, of the service of 
the world to the service of him who made you. 

I have referred to the help of the Holy Spirit in this connec- 
tion ; and a great fact it is that the help of the Holy Spirit, is given 
to aid sinful, dying men in the great concern of salvation. But 
no fact revealed in the gospel is more deplorably misunderstood 
and perverted than this. Many take occasion from it to con- 
clude, that because the agency of the Holy Spirit is necessary 
to aid them in returning to God and duty, they have nothing to 
do, but wait for his action, and so fold their hands and sleep on 
in sin. But what is the true doctrine of the Holy Spirit's 
influence in the matter of man's salvation ? Why, it is, that 
there is a mighty Agent sent into the world according to the 
promise of Christ, to strive with men, to apply the truths and 
motives of the gospel to their conscience, and to draw them, by 
his kindly influence, to forsake sin and embrace Christ as the 
Saviour of their souls. He draws, but does not drive or force ; 
he acts with the truth, and not without it ; in connection with 
the means of grace, and not independently of them ; and the 
object of his influence is to give effect to truth, when contem- 
plated by the mind, and success to the means of grace, when 
used according to the design of their appointment. Here lies 
the appropriate field of the Holy Spirit's operation ; and to 
suppose that his agency thus exerted dispenses with your own 
agency, or is any obstacle to your choosing God as the master 
whom you will serve, is much as if you should allege the kind- 
ness of a friend, offering to conduct you to a certain place, and 
taking you by the hand for that purpose, as a reason why you 
should not go, but should rather stand still and resist his offered 
aid. 

Let it be repeated then, there is nothing within or without 



230 ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 

you, which need prevent your making choice of God as your 
portion. All things are ready ; and the invitation from the 
throne of grace is that you come and fix your choice on God as 
your refuge and strength ; your Father and your friend forever. 
The invitation is extended to all, without distinction of age or 
condition in life. No one is too young or too old, too rich 
or too poor, too humble or too elevated to choose, this day, to 
enter into the service of God. Here is a duty of supreme im- 
portance demanding your attention ; it is plain, direct, practica- 
ble ; and you are called to decide, to-day, whether it shall 
be neglected or performed ; whether you will choose the ser- 
vice of God, or the service of the world, as that which shall 
henceforward be the great object and aim of hfe. And why 
should not the service of God be chosen ? 

Further, to enforce the duty before us, I might say that the 
service of God is the highest glory of your nature, the most 
perfect freedom of rational, moral beings ; the surest and most 
abundant source of inward comfort and outward prosperity. It 
exalts those who are devoted to it to an alliance with the purest 
and noblest beings in the universe ; with prophets and apostles, 
and glorified spirits in heaven ; with ministering angels on high, 
and with God himself, the supreme good. It sets the soul 
upon an endless career of improvement in all that is worthy and 
good, opens before it bright visions of heavenly glory, secures 
God's presence and favor for its support and guidance while 
passing through this world ; brings divine comforts into the bo- 
som in the hour of death, and finally exalts to everlasting 
rewards in heaven. In contrast with this, I might describe the 
miserable bondage you are in, while serving the world and sin ; 
how utterly beneath your immortal nature it is, to fix your 
hearts upon the poor, fading objects of earth and time ; how 
entirely insufficient they are to satisfy the wants of the soul ; 
how hopelessly poor and comfortless you must be in the dying 
hour with no portion in God, and how unutterable the despair 
and misery that awaits you, the moment life closes and you pass 
into eternity. I might enlarge on these topics to any extent. 

But time forbids. And I press, in conclusion, the question, — 
why will you not comply with the proposal of our text, and 
choose, this day, whom you will serve ; choose God ? Why 
will not the young dojthis, and so make God their friend and 
portion ? Why will not the middle aged do this, and all who 



ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 231 

Lear me, who have not before done it, and thus begin to 
be wise and happy and to lay up for themselves treasures 
in heaven ? how blessed it would be, if some here present, 
who have long stood idle in the service of God, should to-day 
enter into that service and begin to live henceforth not to them- 
selves, but to him who died for them and rose again ? There 
are persons before me whose influence in so far as it respects 
religion is now lost, and in some respects worse than lost, who, 
should they take a decided stand on the side of God, entering 
heartily into his service, would send a thrill of interest through- 
out this whole congregated assembly, and widely, all around 
them, and there would be joy in heaven, as well as on earth, 
over a change so great and so happy. And why will not per- 
sons of this class, persons of influence and standing in society, 
lay this subject to heart and inquire what account they can ren- 
der to God for thus burying their talents and refusing to enter 
into his service ? Are you afraid, my friends, of the self-de- 
nials and sacrifices that may be required of you in the service 
of God ? And are there no sacrifices to be endured if you re- 
fuse to serve him ? Is there not the sacrifice of peace of mind 
and joyful hope, the sacrifice of the true dignity, honor 
and blessedness of the soul; the sacrifice of the approbation 
and favor of God, of happiness in death and the rewards of 
heaven, together with subjection to fear and remorse in time, 
and the punishment of hell in eternity ? Or do you shrink 
from changing a position you have so long occupied, and com- 
ing out openly on the Lord's side ? But must you not change 
that position before you die, or fail of eternal life ? And must 
you not place yourselves on the Lord's side ere you leave this 
state of probation, or be forever his enemies ? And when bet- 
ter than now can this necessary step be taken, and the transi- 
tion made which is so indispensable to the safety of your eter- 
nity ? Let the world and the men of the world take their 
course, if they can not be persuaded to fear and obey God ; but 
let no one expect his favor here or hereafter, who is not willing 
to take an open and decided stand for Christ, and to enter 
heartily into his service. 

To all then, who hear me, let me say, choose ye this day 
whom you will serve; choose God. Make a covenant with 
him here in your hearts, that no other shall receive your ser- 
vice. Resist every allurement, banish every delay which 



232 ON CHOOSING THE SERVICE OF GOD. 

would make you remiss, or dilatory in the duty now pressed on 
your attention. Eecollect that the service God requires of you 
is a present service ; a present giving up of the heart to him 
in faith and love, and self-consecrating obedience. Bear it 
in mind, that there are two, and but two masters whom you 
can serve ; God or the world, self or the Lord. One of these 
must be supreme ; one of these must be chosen as the object, 
holding the first place in your heart. "Which shall it be ; 
which ought it to be ; which will you wish it had been when 
you look back to this hour from a dying bed, or from the scenes 
of coming judgment? As you decide the question now before 
you, look beyond the scenes of earth and time, and let your eye 
run along that endless line of being that stretches before you ; 
take in, as far as you can, all the endless ages that you are to 
live through, in the state beyond the grave, — then, while God 
is presenting himself as the object of your choice, and calls you, 
in all the weight of his authority and tenderness of his love, to 
make him your refuge and strength, your Saviour and your all, 
let the decision be made, and made so, that in the day of final 
account you shall find a friend in your Judge and be welcomed 
by him to the mansions of eternal blessedness. O, look once 
more at the objects of choice set before you, — God and the 
world ; the service of Jehovah or the service of sin, — connected 
with the choice of the one is pardon and peace now, and eter- 
nal blessedness hereafter ; with the choice of the other is con- 
demnation, remorse and fear now, and everlasting misery in 
the state beyond the grave. With your eye fixed on these dif- 
ferent objects, and in full view of the consequences of choosing 
the one or the other, decide, now and here, whom you will 
serve ; say in the sincerity of your soul, God shall be my por- 
tion, his word my rule, his service my delight, his glory my aim, 
and his kingdom the home of my soul. And having thus made 
your choice liere^ retire in silence to your homes, and there go 
alone and on your knees confirm your choice of him as your 
friend, your father, your everlastiug all. Do this in sincerity 
and in truth, and you are safe for eternity ; neglect this and you 
are lost forever. 



SERMON XXII. 

REDEMPTION A GROUND OF ENCOURAaEMENT TO COMMIT 
THE SOUL TO GOD. 

Psalm 31 : 5. Into thy hand I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, . 
Lord God of truth. 

No question is of deeper interest to fallen man, than, how 
can he be just with God ; how approach him with the hope of 
pardon and acceptance on the great day of account. This 
question, viewed simply in the light of reason, admits of no 
satisfactory answer. Hence the poor heathen, even the wisest 
among them, and all others who put from them the salvation of 
the gospel, are, and ever have been, in profound darkness on 
this subject. Heathenism speaks no words of consolation to 
the soul burdened with a sense of sin, and fearing to appear be- 
fore God. It multiplies rites and sacrifices and penances ; but 
gives no peace to the conscience, and sheds no light on the 
pathway to the grave and eternity. As little is it in the power 
of philosophy to afford relief in this case, or answer the anx- 
ious inquirer, when he puts the question, what must I do to be 
saved. The most it can do is to utter conjectures and specula- 
tions ; and these are of little use to a man who feels that he is 
a sinner, and wishes to know how he may appear before God 
in peace on the great day of trial. 

But where reason and philosophy fail, the Bible comes in 
and affords the needed relief. It dispels the darkness which 
hangs over the souls immortal destiny, and throws a cheering 
light on all the scenes of the future. It tells us of a way in 
which we may come before God with hope ; a way from which 
every obstruction is removed, and in which we may commit 
our souls into the hands of the Lord our Saviour, and feel as- 
•sured, on the ground of his eternal truth, that he will keep 



234 REDEMPTION A GROUND OF ENCOURAGEMENT 

what we have committed to him unto the day of complete 
redemption. Our text shows us a man, sinful, needy, helpless 
just like ourselves, coming to God in the way here indicated, 
and saying to him in humble confidence and joyful hope, 
Into thy hand I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, O 
Lord God of truth. The sentiment set before us in this scrip- 
ture is plainly this ; — The redemption, provided by God for 
lost men, furnishes ample ground and the most abundant en- 
couragement to commit themselves to him in sure hope of par- 
don and acceptance. 

1. Let us first take a brief view of God's plan of redemp- 
tion, as revealed to us in the gospel, that we may better under- 
stand the ground of encouragement it furnishes for committing 
the soul to him. * 

Redemption implies a previous state of bondage ; and this, I 
need not stop to prove, is the state of all men by nature. The 
whole work of Christ, as Redeemer, proceeds on the assump- 
tion of the fact, that, as sinners, we and our whole race, are in 
a state of bondage; of guilt and estrangement from God, un- 
der the condemnation of his law, and liable to fall into ever- 
lasting wo. In this state God beheld us when he gave his Son 
to die for us ; and in this state, the Son of God, our Redeemer 
and Saviour beheld us, when he came into the world on the 
errand of our redemption ; and the redemption he wrought out 
for us is fitted to meet all the exigencies and wants of our con- 
dition, as fallen and ruined in sin. I use the word redemption 
here in the broad sense, in which it is frequently used in the 
Bible, to denote the whole provision made in the mediation of 
Christ for the salvation of lost men. It includes, 

L A provision for the free and full pardon of sin. Christ is 
the end of the law, for righteousness to every one that believ- 
eth. On the ground of his atonement, God can 'be just and yet 
justify, or forgive all who believe in Jesus. He is the Lamb of 
God, the sacrificial victim, that taketh away the sin of the 
world ; and all who come unto him, to have the burden of their 
guilt removed, find peace with God and rejoice in hope of his 
glory. 

2. The redemption of which we speak includes a provision 
for our sanctification. It is not pardon alone that we need ; 
but grace to renew our fallen nature ; to restore us to the im- 
age of God, and fit us to do his will and dwell in his kingdom. 



TO COMMIT THE SOUL TO GOD. 235 

And this pressing need is fully provided for. The Holy Spirit, 
in virtue of Christ's mediation, has been sent into the world, 
and is abroad among the children of men to recover them from 
their apostacy and sin, and his gracious influence is adequate to 
subdue the hardest heart, and to bow the most stubborn will in 
sweet submission to the Father of Spirits ; and his all-suffi- 
cient help is promised to those who ask it, even more freely than 
earthly parents give good gifts to their children. 

3. The redemption provided in the gospel includes, as an- 
other of its fruits, adoption into the spiritual family of God, 
with a right and title to all the privileges of sons and daughters 
of the Lord Almighty. They who are interested in Christ's 
redemption, are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow 
citizens of the saints, and of the household of God. They are 
delivered from the spirit of bondage and fear, and receive the 
spirit of adoption, whereby they are enabled to call God their 
Father, and come to him with filial affection and endearment. 
Redeemed by the blood of Christ, and made children by adop- 
tion, they also become heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with 
Christ to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled and that 
fadeth not away. And now, in virtue of this new relation, they 
are taken under the protection and care of God as their Father. 
He watches over them with the eye and the heart of a Fa- 
ther ; he educates and trains them up for his kingdom and ser- 
vice ; he carries on the work of grace begun in their hearts ; 
gives them sweet seasons of communion with him, and fore- 
tastes of joys to come ; guides them through the journey of life ; 
supports and comforts them in the dying hour, and finally 
raises them to immortal happiness in his kingdom. All this is 
included in the provisions of redemption, pardon, grace and 
eternal glory ; every thing, in a word, which is needed to meet 
the deepest wants of fallen, ruined man, and to make him com- 
pletely and forever blessed. 

Now, what we say is, that this redemption furnishes ample 
ground, and the most abundant encouragement for all to com- 
mit their souls into the hands of God. But before I proceed 
to show this, it may be well to consider for a moment, what is 
meant by the act here intended, that of committing the soul to 
God. It is, then, a mental act, an act of will, of choice and 
preference. It is giving up to God, not the body merely, but 
the soul, with all its powers, and affections, its purposes 
and aims, to be ruled and governed by him ; to be pardoned, 
21 



236 REDEMPTION A GROUND OP ENCOURAGEMENT 

sanctified and eternally saved by his mercy and grace in Christ. 
In a word, it is an act of trust; prinaarily and chiefly, an act 
of trust, in which, on the ground of God's truth and mercy, 
the soul is committed to him, as into the hand of a faithful 
Creator ; and it implies especially three things : 

1. Conviction of guilt, of want and helplessness. "Whoever 
truly commits his soul to Grod on the ground of redemption, is 
moved to do it under a persuasion that in himself he is a needy, 
lost sinner, justly condemned by the law he has violated, and 
on the ground of justice can expect no good from the hand of 
his Maker and Judge. Conscious of this his state of sin and 
condemnation, he comes before God, and renouncing every self- 
justifying plea, and every claim of merit, he casts himself on 
his sovereign mercy in Christ, and pleads for pardon and 
acceptance only through his atoning blood. 
'^^2. This act of committing the soul to God is done under a 
persuasion of his readiness to receive and to keep what is com- 
mitted to him. In performing this act of submission and trust 
the eye is fixed upon the truth and promises of God, and per- 
suaded that he who has promised is faithful to fulfil; the needy 
suppliant before the throne commits his soul and his all into the 
hands of his God and Saviour. He feels that it is safe to do so, 
and as right as it is safe ; and he does it putting entire con- 
fidence in the word of God, when he says — him that cometh 
unto me, I will in no wise cast out. 

3. A third thing implied in this committing the soul to God 
is a willingness, a choice to be ruled and governed by him. In 
performing this act, the sinner in the first instance, and the 
Christian afterwards, renounces all claim of independence, all 
right to be his own master, to have his own way, or to consult 
his own ease, profit or pleasure in the conduct of life. He 
feels that he is not his own, but is bought with a price, and it is 
his sincere purpose and aim to live henceforth, not unto him- 
self, but unto him who died for him and rose again. In a word, 
convinced of his need of God's mercy and of his readiness to 
pardon and save all who come unto him, he voluntarily falls in 
with the great design of God in the redemption he has pro- 
vided, which is to recover the soul from the ruins of the apos- 
tacy, to conform it to his own image, and fit it for the purity 
and bliss of heaven. 

What encouragement is there now for one, on the ground of 
the redemption of which I have been speaking, to commit his 
soul into the hand of God. 



TO COMMIT THE SOUL TO GOD. 237 

1. You have assurance in this redemption, that all obstacles, 
on the part of God, to your committing the soul to him are put 
out of the waj, and that you are just as welcome to commit 
your immortal all to him as if you had never sinned. One 
short argument proves this, — He that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also 
freely give us all things. Standing on the broad ground of the 
Saviour's mediation, of the redemption he has procured for you 
by his atoning sacrifice, you have open before you a way of free, 
unobstructed access to the Father of mercies. Every wall of 
separation is broken down ; every barrier is moved out of the 
way ; and now in Christ he comes forth to meet you with his 
mercy, and to receive you into his favor. He assures you that 
on his part all things are ready ; the law has been vindicated, 
justice has been satisfied, and mercy has now an open channel 
by which to flow forth to meet and remove all your wants. On 
this point no language can be used which is too strong, or which 
can convey an impression beyond the reality, and fulness of God's 
grace in Christ the Eedeemer. Through him pardon and ac- 
ceptance are freely offered to the chief of sinners ; and the gra- 
cious invitation that sounds from the eternal throne, is- — whoso- 
ever will let him come unto me and be saved ; let him come, 
and take freely of the bread and water of life, and he that Com- 
eth shall in no wise be sent empty away. 

2. The redemption of the gospel assures you that all you 
need is provided for you, and freely offered to your acceptance. 
No matter how great or how pressing your necessities, you 
cannot name one of them which is not provided for in the me- 
diation of Christ. You feel that you are a needy, lost sinner, 
and as such are in the condition of the poor servant who owed 
his Lord ten thousand talents, and had nothing to pay. And 
did not Christ die for sinners ; die for just such as you ? You 
are conscious of a spiritual bondage, a law in your members 
warring against the law of your mind, and bringing you into 
captivity, and you groan, being burdened under a body of sin 
and death. And is there not balm in Gilead and a physician 
there, able to bring you the relief you need, and, committing 
yourself to his treatment, have you not assurance that he will 
recover your lapsed powers and restore you to perfect spiritual 
strength ? 

You feel that you are weak ; and is there not a strength 
offered you which is made perfect in weakness ? You feel that 



238 REDEMPTION A GROUND OP ENCOURAGEMENT 

you are poor ; and did not he, who was rich, for your sake be- 
come poor that you through his poverty might be made rich? 
You feel that you are in a world of temptation and evil, and 
are exposed on every hand to subtle and powerful foes ; and 
has not the Saviour said, — I give unto my sheep eternal 
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck 
them out of my hand ? You feel that great and solemn scenes 
are before you ; that you must ere long die, pass through 
the grave, into eternity and appear before God ; and, do you 
not hear him, who is mighty to save say to you, — fear not, 
I have redeemed thee ? When thou passest through the waters 
I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not 
overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
not be burnt, neither shall any flame kindle upon thee. It 
would seem then, as if all you need is provided for you in the 
redemption of Christ ; or if you can think of any thing more, 
it is contained in this broad charter of all Christian privilege, 
before refered to, — He that spared not his Son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us 
all things ? 

3. The redemption provided in the gospel imposes no condi- 
tion as a ground of your receiving its blessings but simply 
committing your soul to God. It demands no atonement on 
your part for past sins ; no merit or righteousness of your own ; 
no staying away from God till you make yourself better, or be- 
come worthy of his favor. It regards you just as you are, 
fallen, and ruined in sin ; it adapts its provisions to this very 
state, and character, and calls you, on the ground of those pro- 
visions, and as the only way in which they can be available in 
your case to come before God, sensible of your wants, and 
commit your soul into his hands that he may bless you with his 
forgiving love, and do all that for you which you need. This 
is the sole condition on which are proffered you the blessings of 
redemption ; and this condition is imposed only because, in the 
nature of things, it is impossible you should enjoy those bless- 
ings while you keep your soul away from God, or refuse to bow 
to his will, seeking his mercy. In the attitude of self-will 
and revolt, God can not bless you by receiving you into his 
favor. The only ground on which jou or any other crea- 
ture can be happy under his government, is cheerful vol- 
untary submission to his will ; choosing to be in his hands 
and at his disposal ; and the moment you are disposed to 



TO COMMIT THE SOUL TO GOD. 239 

take this ground, he meets you as the father did the prodigal 
and restores you to all the privileges of a son and an heir 
of glory. 

4. The redemption provided in the gospel shuts you up to 
this only way of being saved, namely; that of committing the 
soul to God. In the land of Israel there were several cities 
of refuge provided, and the man pursued by the avenger of 
blood might flee to the nearest for safety; but there is but one 
for us ; but one name given under heaven by which we can be 
saved; but one way opened by which we may escape from the 
wrath to come and lay hold on eternal life. Every other way 
is guarded by the flaming sword of justice. The word has gone 
forth; it can never be recalled — he that hath the Son hath life; 
but he that hath not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of 
God abideth on him. On the ground of redemption then you 
must take your stand, and in that new and living way consecrated 
for you by the blood of Christ, commit ycfUr soul to God in faith 
and love, or you must perish. On any other ground God can 
regard you only with displeasure, as a transgressor of his law, 
and a despiser of his grace, and passing into eternity in this 
character, you must be lost, lost for ever. 

Having thus set before you the provisions of grace included 
in the redemption of Christ, and the grounds of encouragement 
thereby furnished for committing the soul to God, I ask your 
attention, in conclusion, to the following remarks, suggested by 
our subject: 

1. No sinner sitting under the sound of the gospel is author- 
ized to say of himself, there is no hope for me — / can not he 
saved. There are some who admit this gloomy and depressing 
sentiment to their bosom; and while.it is entertained, the effect 
is to paralyze all energy and shut up the soul against every ap- 
peal of gospel truth and mercy. But on what ground has any 
one a right to say that he is excluded from mercy and can not 
be saved? Has he read this in the secret counsels of God? 
These are hidden from our view ; and we have to do only with 
the things that are revealed ; and what is revealed in relation 
to the subject before us? Why, that the redemption there is in 
Christ furnishes the most ample ground of encouragement for 
every sinner to whom it is made known, to commit his soul, in 
joyful confidence and hope, into the hands of God his Saviour. 
Every obstacle in the way of his doing this has been removed; 
provision has been made for his free pardon and reconciliation 
21* 



240 REDEMPTION A GROUND OF ENCOURAGEMENT 

to God, and for the supply of all his wants. And now God in 
Christ meets him, meets you, fellow-sinner, every one, just as 
you are, and by every kind assurance and persuasive argument 
presses you to come and commit yourself to the arms of eternal 
mercy and love. Why then may you not be saved — every one 
whom I now address? What should prevent it, or what keep 
you from being pardoned and blessed of God with the gift of 
eternal life? It is not any past sin; it is not any present un- 
worthiness; it is not any lack of sufficiency in the provisions of 
mercy, nor any unwillingness on the part of God to blot out 
your transgressions, wash away your guilt, however deep its 
stains, and make you an heir of his kingdom. Where then lies 
the obstacle to your salvation? The river of salvation flows at 
your feet; why may you not drink of it and be refreshed? The 
bread of life is put into jour hands; why may you not eat of it 
and live? Placed as }0u are, by the rich grace of God, on the 
ground of a complete redemption, what is needed to secure 
your salvation but your accepting the provisions of that redemp- 
tion ; what but your saying from the heart with him of old — 
Into thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O 
Lord, God of truth? And is this an impossible condition? 
Impossible that you give your soul into the hand of God to be 
pardoned, sanctified and saved by his grace, especially when 
you have proffered to you the aid of the Holy Spirit to enable 
and help you to do this? Many, no doubt, will finally be lost, 
and you may be among them; but the cause will not be that 
you could not be saved, but only that you would not accede to 
the term's of salvation freel}" offered you, nor submit yourself to 
God waiting to be gracious. 

2. The work of redemption is a glorious illustration and proof 
of the goodness of God. A race of sinners in revolt from their 
Maker and Sovereign ; deserving no good, but only evil at his 
hand; lost, all lost; yet redeemed by the gift of his Son to die 
for them ; and a provision thus made adapted to their deepest 
wants, and generously offered to all, and when accepted, secur- 
ing pardon, grace and eternal glory to the poorest and most 
guilty sinner in our lost world; is not such a provision, made at 
such a cost, for such a race, and connected with such glorious 
results, the strongest possible demonstration of the infinite kind- 
ness and love of God ? So it is represented in the Bible ; so it 
is regarded by holy angels and the spirits of the just made per- 
fect in heaven ; and so it should be regarded by us. 



TO COMMIT THE SOTL TO GOD. 241 

It is no objection to this that the provisions of redemption 
are not accepted by all, or that some by rejecting them sink un- 
der a deeper condemnation. For this they are responsible and 
not God. Their destruction is owing, not to any defect in the 
provisions in question, nor to any want of kindness on the part 
of him who offers them, but wholly to their own ingratitude and 
perverseness of heart ; and for this, I repeat, they are responsi- 
sible, and not God. What would you think if a company of 
starving beggars, invited to partake of a generous repast pro- 
vided for them, should reject the bounty of their benefactor, or 
cast poison into it, and then charge him with a want of benevo- 
lence, or with a design to destroy them ? This is just the ground 
taken by the sinner when he brings it as an objection to the 
goodness of God, that the provisions of grace in redemption do 
not avail to save him, or to save all, or that it had been better 
for them that perish if no such provisions had been made. The 
simple question is, what is the design of those provisions, what 
their legitimate and proper effect as bestowed on moral agents, 
on needy, perishing sinners? Are they in their nature adapted 
to meet and supply their wants; are they bestowed for this end; 
are they sincerely offered to all, and may all accept them and 
live? Who then is responsible, if they are rejected and the 
soul in consequence lost ? God or the sinner ; he who redeemed 
you by the death of his Son, or you who reject that redemption, 
or refuse on the ground of it to commit your souls to God? A 
holy universe answers ; it is the sinner ; it is you ; who destroy 
yourself when you might be saved, and the goodness of God 
stands unimpeached and unimpeachable, bearing the bright, un- 
equivocal maiks of infinite kindness and mercy even toward 
them that perish. 

3. In view of what has been said, it would seem to be no 
difficult matter to know whether we have committed our souls 
into the hand of God. To decide this point — of infinite mo- 
ment to each one of us — there is no need of inquiring how, or 
when, or where the act was done ; or whether your experience 
in the doing of it or subsequently, was in all respects like that 
of others, but simply this; have you so felt your wants as a sin- 
ner, been so persuaded of the mercy of God in Christ,' that 
coming before him on the ground of the gospel redemption, you 
have made over your soul into his hand, taking Christ as your 
Saviour, and yielding your heart, your life, your all to his con- 
trol. This is the single question you have to decide, when you 



242 REDEMPTION A GROUND OF ENCOURAGEMENT 

would know whether you have done the act indicated in our 
text, and can say in truth — thou hast redeemed we, O Lord, 
God of truth. Have you th(n done this act? Have you ac- 
cepted and appropriated the redemption wrought out for you by 
Christ, and on the ground of it been pardoned and accepted of 
God? Have you the evidence of this in peace of mind, in 
cheerful hope, and ready obedience to him who loved you and 
gave himself to die for you? A question of momentous inter- 
est, and if you are wise you will not pass it by without serious 
consideration and seeking to decide it on ground that will abide 
by you in the great day of trial. 

4. How great are the obligations of the redeemed people of 
God to continual gratitude and unreserved consecration to his 
service and glory. Entitled to this on the ground of his infinite 
perfections, how is his claim to supreme homage, love and praise 
from his redeemed people enhanced, when it is considered what 
he has done to save them from death and hell, and to make 
them partakers of his glory? Consider, my brethren, what 
blessings you receive from the redemption of Christ, if indeed 
you are his; blessings of infinite value and extent; blessings 
temporal and spiritual, for time and eternity. And to the bound- 
less blessings coming to you from this source, what security is 
given; even the everlasting truth of God and all is certain. 
And what are the obligations of those who through grace are 
entitled to the infinite blessings of the Saviour's redemption ? 
My brethren, have we an interest in this redemption ; have we 
indeed been bought with a price, even the precious blood of 
Christ, and on the ground of what he has done, have we been 
enabled to commit our souls into the hand of God, and is it our 
hope that he will do all that for us which he has promised to do 
for his redeemed servants, the heirs of salvation ? What then 
shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits? Shall we 
not take the cup of salvation and pay our vows in a voluntary, 
unreserved consecration of all we are and have to his service 
and glory? In the sacred ordinance now before us we have a 
memorial of the love of God our Saviour manifested in our re- 
demption. Here is the seal of his redeeming mercy, the pledge 
of his everlasting love. On God's part it is immutable, like 
himself. Eatify it on your's, and all is secure. Here, as you 
behold these memorials of your Redeemer's love, let the senti- 
ment and purpose rise warm and grateful from the heart — Into 
thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me O Lord 



TO COMMIT THE SOUL TO GOD. 243 

God of truth. If you have done it before, let it be done here 
again. It is an act peculiarly appropriate to the service in 
which you are about to engage. Let there be no reservation 
in this dedication of the soul to God. Let it include the affec- 
tions, the purposes, the aims, the life, all you are and all you 
have. Then divine light will shine upon your path through this 
world of trial, and change, and a divine peace and hope will 
abide in your soul. God will manifest himself as your father 
and friend, and will keep that which you have committed to 
him safe unto the day of complete redemption. 

To all let me say, the time is coming, and it may be very 
near, when each one before me will have nothing left him to do 
but to lie down on the bed of death and go hence to appear be- 
fore God. Then, if not before, it will seem to one and all 
of you worth more than a thousand worlds like this to be able 
to say — into thy hand I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed 
me, O Lord God of truth. But if a stranger to the spirit and 
meaning of this language in life, you will not be able to utter it 
in sincerity in the time of your extremity, but must die in dark- 
ness and despair. then, let none dismiss this subject with in- 
difference ; let none who have listened to this discourse, designed 
to bring before you the sinner's refuge and the sinner's help, 
without being prevailed upon, as he retires from the sanctuary, 
to go alone and in the stillness of his chamber and the solitude 
of his soul pour out a fervent, importunate prayer, that he may 
be numbered with those who here commit their souls into the 
hand of God, find peace in the dying hour and inherit everlast- 
ing life in heaven. 



SERMON XXIII. 

CHRISTIAN CULTIjEE AND ITS FRUITS. 

Mark iv: 28. First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. 

True religion is represented to us in the Bible in a great 
variety of ways,- — sometimes by direct precept and instruction; 
•sometimes by examples drawn from real life; sometimes by un- 
folding the experience of good men, and sometimes by striking 
parables or illustrations taken from natural objects. In the text 
"we have an example of the latter method of teaching us the 
nature and effects of true religion, as it is implanted in the soul 
and springs up and bears fruit in the life. It is described to 
us in its origin, progress and maturity, under a similitude drawn 
from the process of vegetation. First the blade, then the ear, 
then the lull corn in the ear. It will be my object in the pres- 
ent discourse to unfold and apply the meaning of this figurative 
language. In its original import and application, it might have 
been intended by our divine Lord to show the progress of the 
gospel in the world. But it may with equal propriety be re- 
garded as descriptive of the nature and progress of religion in 
the individual soul. In this view we may consider the text, 

1. As suggesting the fact that religion springs from a seed 
or principle planted in the heart by an agent from without. 
Wheat or corn does not grow spontaneously from the ground. 
It is produced by a seed sown in the earth by the husbandman, 
and brought to m.aturity under his culture and care, aided by 
rain and sunshine. So it is with true religion. It is not nat- 
ural to the heart of man. It is not of self- production; nor can 
it be produced by any mere means or moral culture. It is the 
product of a new principle; of a seed of grace implanted in 
the soul by the Holy Spirit. The heart of man is depraved. 
The love of God has wholly ceased from it ; and by no en- 
ergy of its own, and by no mere human agency can this its 
native character be changed, so that it shall bear fruit unto 



CHRI3TIA.N CULTURE A.ND ITS FRUITS. 245 

G-od ; any more than wheat can be made to grow on a rock 
or from ground where no seed has been sowed. However 
men may differ in their social feelings, or in their natural tal- 
ents, dispositions and tastes, they are, while in their natural 
state, alike destitute of the lo^e of God, in estrangement 
from him and dead in sin. On this ground it is asserted, that 
the natural man discerneth not the things of the spirit of God, 
for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them because 
they are spiritually discerned.. And our divine Lord affirms 
that no man can come unto him except the Father draw him; 
and that no man can see or enjoy the kingdom of God except 
he be born again, born of the Spirit. The necessity of this 
change is universal, and the experience of it is the beginning 
of religion in the soul. The seed or germ of a new, spiritual 
life is then implanted in the bosom. The Holy Spirit sheds 
divine light upon the mind; inspires it with new desires and 
aims, and forms within a disposition, a taste, a habit of soul, or 
whatever you please to call it, which evolves itself in a new 
and heavenly life, in a character conformed to the image of 
God and in ultimate meetness for heaven. Here, in this im- 
planting in the bosom of the divine seed is the commencement 
of a Chistian life. All is barren and fruitless till the Holy 
Spirit breathes upon the carnal mind, softens it into penitence, 
faith and love, and fixes its affections supremely on God and 
divine things. 

2. The text suggests that religion in the soul is a progressive 
principle. After the corn is put into the ground, you first 
notice a little, tender blade or sprout, that starts out of the 
earth, grows up into a stalk which bears the ear, and finally the 
full, ripe corn in the ear. So grace in the heart or true religion 
is of gradual growth. It is at first tender, feeble, perhaps al- 
most imperceptible, like the first shootings of the grain in the 
earth. But if the principle of spiritual vitality be implanted 
in the bosom, it will, by and by, spring up and gradually 
advance to maturity, putting forth the blossoms and bearing the 
fruits of holiness. A relioflon that does not s^row and thrive is 
not of the Holy Spirit's prozluclng. It has no spiritual life, no 
root in itself, to sustam its vigor and growth; and however 
much it may, in some respects, appear for a time, like a living 
plant of grace, the fact of its not. growing, shows that it is not 
of our heavenly Father's planting, and it will ere long be 
plucked up. 

Progress is indeed the universal law of all that has life ; and 



246 CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 

religion in the soul is no exception. This is clearly taught in 
our text, and in various other parts of the Bible. It is first the 
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. It is likened 
to leaven hid in measures of meal, till all is leavened. It is as the 
shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day; 
and every one who has implanted in his soul the principles of 
true religion will go on growing in knowledge and in grace till 
he attains the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. He 
will grow especially in the following particulars, — in humility. 
As he advances in the divine life, he will see more and more of 
the native sinfulness of his heart and of the imperfections of 
his character, as disclosed to his view in the light of God's 
law; and under every fresh discovery which he thus makes of 
his deficiencies and sins he will become more and more humble, 
self- distrustful and penitent, and will have a deeper and still 
deeper sense of his need of and of his dependence on divine 
grace. 

He will also grow in spirituality. His conscience will become 
increasingly enlightened and tender. He will acquire a quicker 
and more practical sense of duty. Sin will appear to him more 
and more odious, guilty and dangerous ; and he will shun all 
temptations to it with increasing solicitude and watchfulness. 
The world, its riches, its honors, its pleasures, will gradually 
lose their power over him ; he views them as no longer his por- 
tion, nor the chief source of his enjoyments. God and heav- 
enly things seem nearer and nearer to him, and from them he 
derives his purest joys and brightest hopes. He feeds upon 
the hidden manna, he has bread to eat that the world knows 
not of. He has a growing relish for the great truths and the 
spiritual duties of religion ; he loves prayer, communion with 
God, and the study of the scriptures and Christian society and 
worship ; and in this way he evinces progress in spirituality of 
mind and a growing meetness for heaven. 

He likewise grows in uniformity and constancy of religious 
affections. His feelings are perhaps less lively, and less excita- 
ble than they once were ; but they are more constant and more 
under the control of principle. He is less subject than former- 
ly to variable frames of mind ; his heart is fixed ; he is stead- 
fast in duty, and he advances with a firm,, unfaltering step in 
the path of the just, conducting him to perfect peace and to 
eternal life. He grows, finally, in Christian fruitfulness. The 
tender blade or shoot, that first appeared in his experience, has 



CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 247 

grown up into a firm, vigorous stalk, and the full, ripe fruit 
clusters about it. He continues to bring forth fruit in old age, 
and " thus shows both the reality of his religion, and the grace 
of God which has been imparted to him in maintaining the 
Christian life. 

I have been thus particular in illustrating this topic, because 
I consider progress an essential element of true religioQ ; it en- 
ters into its very nature, as Christ plainly teaches in our text, and 
no one has any right to regard himself as a Christian, who does 
not grow in grace, any more than wheat is to be regarded as 
genuine and living wheat which never grows beyond the mere 
blade state and yields no corn in the ear. 

3. Our text suggests that religion, in its beginning, is pecul- 
iarly exposed to be injured, to be blighted and rendered un- 
fruitful. The tender blade of grain, as it springs from the 
ground, how easily it is crushed by tlie foot, broken by the hand, 
injured by the storm, or destroyed by frost, or by a scorching 
sun. It is so with religion in the soul. It is a delicate, tender 
plant, easily stinted and blighted in its growth and so all hope 
of fruit is cut off. It needs constant care and culture, — it needs 
shelter from the frosts and storms of a cold, ungenial world, and 
it needs the soft dews and mild sunshine of heaven, in order 
to mature and make it abound in fruits to the glory of God. 
In other words, religion, when it first enters the soul, and in all 
its early incipient stages of progress, demands for its growth 
constant care and watchfulness, the diligent use of the means 
of grace, and the vigilant avoidance of what ever influences are 
unfriendly to its development and maturity. It is only in this 
way that it can be cherished and invigorated in the bosom, and 
made to bring forth fruit unto God. Religion without prayer, 
without watchfulness, without the study of the scriptures and 
the constant aids of divine grace, can no more grow and yield 
the fruits of holiness, than grain, without rain and sunshine, can 
grow and yield a plentiful harvest. And hence, it is not diffi- 
cult to account for the fact that so many young professors of 
religion, who appear well for a time, afterwards have a sad 
blight come over their graces, and bring forth little or no fruit 
unto God. They cease to watch and pray against the tempt- 
ations of the world; they become negligent in keeping the 
heart, inconstant in using the means of spriritual progress, 
expose themselves too freely to the chilling, deadening influen- 
ces of worldly associations and pleasures, and so the fair blos- 
22 



248 CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 

soms of early piety are blasted, and the promise of fruit frus- 
trated. This is the process through which it comes to pass, 
that there are so many fruitless members in our churches. 
Their early religion was not duly watched and guarded; it was 
not nourished and invigorated by a due care and culture, and so 
became unfruitful. And it is to be remarked, that when reli- 
gion in its tender growth, in its blade character, suffers decay 
and blight from any cause, it is rarely recovered afterwards 
to vigor and fruitfulness. It is as when grain in the spring 
season is smitten by frost or drought, it dwindles away and comes 
to nothing, or yields only a meager and scanty harvest. 

4. The text teaches that the different staores of religion in 
its progress toward maturity, will be distinguished by different 
appearances. From the time when the shoot first starts from 
the earth, till the sickle is thrust in to gather the harvest, a field 
of grain at every successive period of its growth puts on a dif- 
erent aspect and requires a different culture. 

There is a difference corresponding to this in the experience 
of Christians, as they advance from the period of their conver- 
sion toward a state of perfection. In their blade state, as it 
may be called, keeping up the figure in our text, their graces 
are wont to look green and flourishing ; and one is ready to ac- 
count all as genuine, and to anticipate much fruit in their ma- 
turity. But tares grow with the wheat. Much of the seed that 
is sown falls on stony places, and though it springs up and looks 
well for a season having no depth of earth in which to take root, 
it soon withers away and brings no fruit unto perfection. This 
represents young converts who appear well for a time, but after- 
ward fall away. They cannot at first be distinguished from 
true Christians, just as tares for a time can not be distinguished 
from the wheat, — but having no root in themselves, no princi- 
ple of grace within, their fresli leaves and fair blossoms quickly 
wither and fall off, and they become unfruitful. With those 
who are truly converted it is different. Though their religion 
in its first manifestations is mingled with much imperfection 
and weakness, it is nevertheless sincere. It is rooted and 
grounded in truth, and the love of God shed abroad in the 
soul ; and it therefore continues to grow and thrive and bring 
forth fruit, more and more unto old age. The young Chris- 
tian has of course but little experience. He knows but little of 
the evils of his heart, or of the temptations of the world, or of 
the conflicts he has to pass through in pursuing his way to the 



CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 249 

heavenly rest. He is lively and tender in his affections ; he 
loves the word and the worship of God, and sincerely desires 
to be led in the right way. But he is not yet an established 
Christian. His knowledge of divine things, his faith, his love, 
his hope are all imperfect ; and as he has not yet learnt how to 
hve on Christ and in him from day to day, nor how to derive 
strength and comfort from the promises, he is liable to great 
changes in his feelings, is often ready to faint in his course, and 
doubt cf attaining the prize set before him. 

But he gathers experience from ;he trials of the way. His 
feelings, though perhaps less lively than at first, are more uni- 
form and stable. He learns, as he goes forward in the Chris- 
tian life, to rely less on frames, and more on principle ; less on 
feeling and more on steadiness of purpose. He acquires 
clearer and more practical views of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
of the glories of his person, and of the preciousness of re- 
deeming love ; hence his hope is more established, his depend- 
ence more simple, and his peace and strength more abiding. 
The yoke of Christ becomes easier and easier to him, and his 
burden lighter and lighter. Difficulties in his Christian course 
pass away one after another, and he finds the path, which was 
at first straight and narrow, opening into the King's highway, 
and he goes forward with none to molest or make him afraid. 
Fears and doubts have taken their flight, and hope, full orbed 
and bright, cheers and animates him on his way. He is stead- 
fast, immovable ; duty is easy and pleasant to him ; the fruits 
of the spirit appear in his life and the comforts of religion 
abound in his souk He enjoys, perhaps, the full assurance of 
hope ; can say with the Apostle of old, I know whom I have 
believed ; or with the excellent John Newton in the maturity of 
his Christian experience — I have not had a doubt of a quarter 
of an hour's contmuance, for many years, respecting my accept- 
ance in the Beloved. Here is the Christian represented by the 
full corn in the ear. How different from what he was, as rep- 
resented by the blade state ? He has gone on advancing in 
knowledge and grace, and now stands forth an established 
Christian, laden with the fruits of holiness, and ripe for heaven. 
The sun in his daily course, beholds nothing so excellent and 
honorable on earth as this child of the skies, this heir of glory. 
Though perhaps dwelling in an humble cottage, and but little 
known or noticed by men of the world, he is still the object and 
residence of divine love, the charge of angels, and is soon to be 



250 CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 

transported to his home in heaven. His toils, his cares and his 
conflicts with temptation and evil will soon be at an end ; soon 
his desires will be fulfilled, and he, who has loved him and re- 
deemed him with his blood, and has led him on through the suc- 
cessive stages of his earthly pilgrimage, will receive him to 
himself, with a well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord. This leads me to add, 

5. That the results of previous cultivation in the Christian 
life will correspond with the kind and degree of labor be- 
stowed. The farmer is familiar with this principle. He 
knows well, that he can expect a harvest only as he prepares 
the ground, casts in the seed, and watches its growth with 
due care and cultivation. The principle declared in the Bible 
is of universal application. Whatsoever a man soweth that 
shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of 
the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit shall 
of the spirit reap life everlasting. This principle is illustrated 
in every stage of the Christian life, and in the results as they 
will be developed in the future world. 

He who neglects the means of grace, who misimproves the 
spring season of life and passes the period of probation in im- 
penitence and estrangement from God, will die in a state of 
condemnation and reap the consequences in a miserable eter- 
nity. He who runs well for a time and then turns back, will 
in vain expect the victor's crown. He who sows his fields 
and then leaves the seed uncovered, to be devoured by the birds 
or trodden down by every passer by, will find no fruit ripe for 
his use in the season of harvest. So the professing Christian, 
who is negligent and slothful in the Christian life ; who allows 
the spirit of the world to steal into his bosom, and does only so 
much in religion as is demanded by custom, or is necessary to 
maintain his profession, will find from the beginning to the end 
of his course, that he is cut off from the hopes and the 
comforts of piety ; dwells in a dry and barren land, brings forth 
no fruit unto God, and has only a dark prospect before him in 
the dying hour. 

Eely upon it, my friends, the great law of compensation 
holds as true in relation to religion as to any other concern 
of man. If you neglect it, if you are slothful in it, if you deal 
with a slack hand and live conformed to the world rather than, 
to the will of God, you will be left without peace, without hope 
and leave the world in spiritual poverty and despair, to enter- 



CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 251 

upon an eternity for which you have made no provision. Men 
do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Whatso- 
ever a man soweth that shall he also reap. In accordance with 
this, if you enter early into the Christian life and diligently cul- 
tivate the Christian graces, seeking to live near to God, in the 
enjoyment of the light of his countenance and of the dews of 
his grace, great will be your peace, your comfort and your hope. 
Your soul will be as a well w^atered garden ; your graces 
within and without will be vigorous and flourishing, yielding 
continually fruit unto God, and giving bright promise of a rich 
harvest in heaven. The more diligent and careful your culti- 
vation, the nearer you live to God, and the more you are con- 
formed to his will, the greater will be the amount of your 
present enjoyment and the brighter your future crown of glory. 
As you go forward in life, all will be constrained to take know- 
ledge of you, as one that has been with Jesus. Peace will at- 
tend your steps, and hope, full orbed and bright, will cheer you 
all your way through life. As you approach the close of your 
earthly career, no clouds, no darkness will settle over your 
prospects, but all will be light and pleasant and full of hope. 
The fruits of a consistent, devoted Christian life will be poured 
in plentiful measure, into your bosom, and when earthly posses- 
sions and joys are leaving you, God will be present to cheer 
you with the light of his countenance and the joy of his salva- 
tion ; and you will glorify his great name in the manner of 
your departure from the world, and during eternity. You shall 
know in your own sweet and abundant experience, that the re- 
sults of previous cultivation in the Christian life will correspond 
with the kind and degree of labor bestowed. 

1. In conclusion, let me say, in the first place, our subject 
urges the duty of self-examination. Is your religion, my 
friends, of the kind described in this discourse ? What was its 
origin ? Was it from yourself, or of the Holy Spirit's produ- 
cing ? If of yourself, it has been of a meager, stinted growth 
and has yielded no fruit to God ; if of the Holy Spirit, it had 
life in its root, and it has sprung up and grown and been fruit- 
ful in holiness. Has your religion, then, the character of that 
described in our text ; first the blade, then the ear, then the full 
corn in the ear ? Look back on your past experience, to the 
time when, professedly, you entered on the Christian life, — have 
you made progress, grown in grace and in the knowledge of 
the Lord Jesus Christ ? In other words, has religion in your 
22* 



252 CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 

bosom proved itself to be a progressive principle ? Under its 
influence, have you been increasing in spirituality of mind, in 
conscientiousness in duty, in watchfulness against temptation, 
in humility, in faith, in love, in weanedness from the world, in 
joy in God and meetness for heaven ? Have you watched the 
tender plant as it sprung up in your bosom, guarding it from 
harm, and cultivating it in the careful use of such means as are 
adapted to promote its growth ; and under that culture has it 
been gaining in strength and vigor, advancing from its blade 
state, to the ear, and onward toward the full corn in the 
ear? What, in fine, is likely to be the harvest? Have 
you gathered, do you now, from day to day, gather fruit from 
your religion ; fruit in peace, in joy, in hope ? If the harvest 
day were now come, would you have consolation and support 
in the trying hour ; would your religion stand by and comfort 
you, if all earthly things were leaving you ; and entering into 
eternity, would you find treasures there laid up for jou which 
should welcome and make you blessed forever? Do not 
dismiss these questions lightly. They are designed to test your 
religion ; they draw deep on your hopes for eternity ; they will 
meet you again in that day of destiny which is approaching, 
and happy will it be, if you now so consider and decide them, 
that you shall not fear to meet and decide them in the presence 
of God your final judge. 

2. Let me apply what has been said particularly to young 
Christians. Your religion, my young friends, is now in its ten- 
der, blade state; it may easily be blighted and injured so that it 
shall be unfruitful all your days. Now is your danger ; it is 
with you the spring season of your Christian life. A right 
course taken now, diligence and watchfulness in cultivating the 
Christian virtues now, will impress on you a character, form 
in you habits, and draw around you influences that will es- 
tablish and make you steadfast unto the end, brighten your 
prospects, confirm your hopes and enhance your blessedness du- 
ring eternity. On the contrary, a wrong course taken now ; 
negligence and sloth and worldly conformity indulged now, will 
wither your graces, blast your hopes, and make you spiritually 
poor, dwarfed, and fruitless through life, and forever. The 
most critical period of a young christian's life is in his setting 
out, toward the heavenly world. A failure there is like a frost 
in spring, or a drought in summer ; all prospect of fruit is cut 
off. Let me press this view of the subject on the younger 



CHRISTIAN CULTURE AND ITS FRUITS. 253 

members of the church. I fear that some of you do not real- 
ize its importance. I fear that some of you are sadly neglect- 
ing the tender blade which sprung up in your bosom with 
so much promise ; neglecting it to such a degree, that it will 
never reach the state of earing, much less the full corn in the 
ear. Be on your guard. The harvest day will come, and a 
melancholy day it will be to you, if you shall then be found 
an unfruitful branch, fit only to be broken off and cast into the 
fire. 

3. Let all take encouragement from our subject to be diligent 
and faithful in cultivating the Christian character. The hus- 
bandman toils in hope. He goes forth casting in his seed, and 
then applies himself to other departments of his labor. The 
seed springs up and grows, he knows not how ; but in due time, 
the field waves with its golden harvest, when he thrusts in the 
sickle and gathers home the fruits of his labor. So in spiritual 
husbandry, you are to use the appointed means of a harvest ; 
God adds his blessing ; you grow in peace, in joy, in hope, in 
all Christian attainments ; the harvest is by and by, and you 
reap immortal joy. This is a harvest, which, viewed in con- 
nection with the appointed means, is far more certain than that 
which stimulates the activity and draws forth the toils of the 
husbandman. The promise is sure. In due time we shall reap 
if we faint not. He that goeth forth bearing precious seed, 
shall doubtless come again bringing his sheaves with him. 
Take this then for your encouragement. The field you are 
called to till is within you, in your own bosom. The seed you 
are to sow is the living word of God planted in your mind. 
The culture demanded is diligence, watchfulness, faith and 
prayer. The harvest to be gathered is the present enjoyment 
of God's friendship and love ; and immortal blessedness in 
heaven. And soon the harvest day will be here. Every effort 
to do the will of God, to bring forth fruit to the glory of his 
name, will then be recompensed in full measure. The Supreme 
Judge will mete out to every one in proportion to his labors in 
the field allotted to his cultivation. 



SERMON XXIY. 



THE DAY OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OF THINGSy 
SELDOM A DAY OF HOPEFUL APPEARANCE. 

Luke xxiii: 54. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew 
on. 

The day here referred to was the day of Christ's crucifixion ; 
and in the view of the disciples it was the darkest and most 
fearful day they ever beheld. The Master, whom they had 
followed for more than three years, and to whom they fondly 
looked as the promised Messiah, had been, unexpectedly and 
violently, arraigned before the Jewish authorities, condemned 
and crucified. His mangled body was lying in the tomb, and 
there too were lying all the long cherished hopes of his having 
come to set up a temporal kingdom and reign in royal splendor 
over the nations. They had forsaken all to follow Christ; and 
now all seemed to them lost; and surrounded as they were by 
enemies, who despised and hated them for their new faith, 
and were ready to shed their blood, as they had that of their 
Master, the prospects of the disciples were indeed gloomy, and 
their hearts might well be filled with sorrow and fear. Yet, at 
this very time and in these very ways, which seemed to them 
so dark and ominous of evil, God was working for their good, 
and preparing the way for a new and mighty expansion of the 
cause of truth and righteousness, and for establishing a happier 
order of things on earth. They saw it not; yet beneath the 
dark and troubled aspect of things around them, an agency was 
operating to carry out the divine plan, to usher in the morning 
of a brighter day and prepare the way for the light of salvation 
to spread abroad throughout the world. The third day came, 
and the Saviour, according to his promise, rose from the dead, 
showed himself openly to his disciples, dissipated their unbelief " 
and their fears, and convinced them that the day of preparation 
referred to in this text, whose sun went down in such dense 



THE DAT OF PREPARATION, ETC. 255 

clouds, was indeed the preparation, not for the Jewish passover 
which was then at hand, but for introducing the gospel dispen- 
sation and setting up a kingdom which is to extend over the 
earth and endure forever. And thus, if the desponding disci- 
ples had only had faith to look through the scenes of that dark 
preparation day, and had understood aright the meaning of 
the events passing around them, they might well have exulted, 
though with tears, and caused the rocky garden of the sepul- 
chre in which the Saviour was laid, to resound with songs of 
gratitude and praise. 

In reflecting upon this particular case, it has seemed to me 
to suggest a general principle characteristic of the dispensations 
of providence toward mankind, — which may be thus stated, — 
" The day of preparation for a better order of things is rarely, 
in the view of man, a time of hopeful appearance, but the re- 
verse; nevertheless, at such a time human affairs are actually 
tending toward the approaching happy change."* Or to state 
the same truth in the form of a common maxim, — the darkest 
time is just before day. Let me illustrate this principle by ref- 
erence to a few facts taken from the history of our race. If it 
can be made to appear that the principle just stated does char- 
acterize the dispensations of God's providence in carrying for- 
ward his cause in the world, it will certainly open to our view 
many practical lessons of no small importance and very essen- 
tial to our comfort and hope in the dark and troublous times in 
which we live.f 

I have already referred to the ciucifixion and burial of our 
Lord. In the view of the disciples these were events deeply 
mysterious and discouraging, and frustrative of their most cher- 
ished hopes. Appearances were all against them. That prep- 
aration day, the day that saw their Lord nailed to the cross 
and laid in the grave, was to them a day of despondency and 
gloom; of suspense and dread expectation. Hope and fear 
were in sore conflict in their bosoms, and all things seemed 
working to overthrow their faith and their expectations. Nev- 
ertheless that was the day upon which hinged all former and 
all future events in the history of man's redemption. It was 
the day on which a fiading and obsolete order of things was 
passing away to give place to another and a better; the day on 
which the redemption of the world awaited its consummation 
and its proof ; and though the sun of that day went down in 

^Several thoughts in this discourse derived from Taylor's Saturday Even- 
ing. tl864. 



256 DAT OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OF THINGS, 

clouds, it rose but once more, ere a brighter light than that of 
the sun rose upon the world never to be obscured or eclipsed. 
I dwell upon this as a striking example of the principle I am 
illustrating. The hours of deepest darkness and dismay imme- 
diately preceded the bringing in of light and immortality for 
mankind; and when appearances seemed to favor no such re- 
sult, God was wisely, but mysteriously, operating, by the very 
means which seemed to the disciples so disastrous and evil, to 
introduce an order of things far surpassing their highest hopes 
and replete with joy and salvation for a ruined world. 

Take another illustration from the state of our globe at its 
creation. For a long, an indefinitely long period of time after 
the matter, the elements of which it is composed, were spo- 
ken into being by the Creator, it existed in a state of chaos, 
without form and void, — a vast, confused mass of unshapen, 
warring materials, shrouded, on every side, in profound dark- 
ness. Neither life, nor beauty, nor symmetry, nor form any 
where appeared, but all seemed one immense, solitude, one vast 
waste. Had man existed at that period, and been permitted to 
view the globe in the dark, chaotic state in which it then was, 
how little would appearances have indicated to him the count- 
less forms of beauty and grandeur, of order, convenience and 
comfort which have sprung from the confused and jarring ele- 
ments, and toward which, under laws ordained by the Creator, 
all was tending, when appearances seemed against any such 
result. While the earth was without form and void, and dark- 
ness was upon the face of the deep, the mighty, all-pervading 
energy of God was moving over and amid the chaos, and pre- 
paring a world for the home of man which, through all time, 
and to all intelligent beings, should stand forth a monument of 
the power, wisdom and benevolence of the Creator. 

The deliverance of the Israelites from their bondage in 
Egypt furnishes another illustration of the principle we are con- 
sidering. Never was their bondage heavier, never were their 
prospects darker, never were all appearances of deliverance 
more distant and hopeless, than just before deliverance came, and 
they were marching, under the conduct of their great Leader and 
Lawgiver Moses, to go in and take possession of the promised 
land. For generations previous they had groaned under the 
burdens imposed upon them by their Egyptian task-masters; 
they saw no way of escape, but were sinking down broken and 
dispirited, in what seemed to them a state of hopeless slavery 



SELDOM A DAY OF HOPEFUL APPEARANCE. 257 

and suffering. But in the midst of all that seemed so dark and 
discouraging in their view, an unseen providence was working 
for their good, preparing the way for the fulfillment of the 
promises which centuries before God had made to Abraham 
their great ancestor. As the day of deliverance drew on, fav- 
oring appearances, though unseen by the people, began to mul- 
tiply and develope themselves, till suddenly all things were 
ready, the power of Kgypt was crushed, the yoke of bondage 
broken, and the Israelites, free, were on their way to the land 
promised them for an inheritance. It would be interesting, did 
time permit, to trace the undeveloped initiatives of this great 
deliverance as they were long operating beneath the surface of 
events. The men of that day saw them not; but we can see 
them now that they are unfolded in history, and discover the 
fullest evidence that in the darkest and most hopeless period of 
Israel's bondage God was working for their good and preparing 
the way for the nation's deliverance. » 

Something very analogous to this seems to have been taking 
place in the case of the four millions of slaves in our country. 
Four years ago their condition seemed hopeless. No human 
wisdom or power could reach them to loosen their chains and 
secure their freedom. But suddenly, by a series of most unex- 
pected and wonderful events, God in his providence has effected 
what no human power could effect, and slavery, we may hope, 
in our land, is dead, — killed by the very agents who were the 
most determined to perpetuate and extend it as widely as pos- 
sible. 

For another illustration, let us look in upon the infant church 
in Jerusalem. We find it gathered together in an upper room, 
one hundred and twenty in number, including the Apostles, en- 
gaged in prayer and supplication. They were a feeble band 
in the midst of powerful enemies. The overwhelming shock 
occasioned by the crucifixion of their Lord had in a measure 
passed away, after his ascension in the presence of his disci- 
ples. Still their situation was dark and perplexing. Appear- 
ances were sadly against them. They were hemned in on 
every side by watchful and subtle foes. They very imper- 
fectly understood the meaning of Christ's promises and knew 
not how they were to be fulfilled. They were expecting some- 
thing important soon to take place in their favor, but what it 
was, or how it would be accomplished they knew not. Fears 
mingled with their expectations, and while they prayed, hope 
was ready to fail them, yet it could not be given up. But in 



258 DAT OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OF THINGS, 

the midst of all that was so perplexing and trying in their cir- 
cumstances and prospects, an invisible agency was constantly 
operating for their good, overruling the events which seemed 
to them so disastrous, and preparing the way for a new and 
mighty triumph of the gospel. The day of Pentacost came ; 
the dark moral night that had preceded it passed away, and the 
litrht of gospel truth burst upon the minds of the anxious, wait- 
ino- disciples, and the kingdom of Christ received a new im- 
pulse and a new expansion, breaking forth on. every side, and 
spreading, like the light of, the morning among the nations. 
How little did the disciples while abiding in that upper room, 
anticipate what was coming; how httle able were they to un- 
derstand the signs of the times, or penetrate through the dark 
-scenes that were passing around them, to that mighty power 
which, unseen, was directing all to benevolent results, and pre- 
paring the way, by the very means which seemed so adverse, 
for a more rapid and glorious spread of righteousness and truth 

on the earth. 

So, to a superficial observer, nothing could have appeared 
more' improbable than the passing away of heathenism and 
the spread of the gospel through the Roman empire, during 
the first, second and third Century after its proclamation in Ju- 
dea. Appearances seemed to favor no such result. Polytheism 
every where held sway over the people. The higher classes, 
sunk in universal scepticism, cared little for any religion, yet 
worshiped idols so far as they maintained any worship, while 
the masses were degraded in ignorance, and borne away by a 
mad fanaticism. And yet beneath this dark and inauspicious 
surface of things there was a preparation going forward for 
the introduction of Christianity, and the setting up of Christ's 
kino-dom through the empire. We can now look back and un- 
derstand the nature and extent of that preparation; but to the 
men of that day it was all hidden, and the darkness that envel- 
oped the nations was never thicker than just before the rising 
of the sun of righteousness to give light and salvation to the 

We may gather another illustration from the history of the 
reformation under Luther. The closing years of the fifteenth 
and the beginning of the sixteenth century were, m all senses, 
a day of preparation, from end to end of Europe; and that 
preparation had actually been going on from the time of the 
crusades in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Some few there 
were who saw indications of the great revolution before it took 



SELDOM A DAT OF HOPEFUL APPEARANCE. 259 

place, and dimly anticipated it, though they did not live to see 
it achieved. But the number who, amid the intense darkness 
that enveloped all Europe, looked to the dawning day, was 
small, and they, it would seem from history, looked not at all to 
the quarter from which it was to come, and had but a very faint 
conception of the causes by which it was to be accomplished. 
But God saw the end from the beginning, and by his mysterious 
providence had been working, by a long series of events, to 
emancipate the church and the world from the dark enslave- 
ment of papal and political tyranny, and usher in the light of 
religious and civil freedom. 

At the appointed time the reformation, under long-hidden 
but powerfully operative causes, burst forth with irresistible 
force, rolled back the darkness of a thousand years and intro- 
duced a new era in the world's history. An humble monk was 
the instrument employed to effect the great achievement. Lu- 
ther struck a spark which fell into a magazine already prepared 
for it, and an explosion was produced which shook all Europe, 
and brought on a series of sanguinary wars and revolutions, 
which lasted, with little interruption, for a century and a half. 
But when the smoke, and the dust, and the clouds passed away, 
a brighter sun appeared riding in the heavens, and a happier 
state of society arose to bless the church and the world. 

Take as another example of the principle I am illustrating; 
the oppressions and wrongs inflicted on our forefathers in the 
land of their birth. It was a long dark day that overshadowed 
them when they were persecuted, imprisoned and subjected to 
every form of indignity and suflPering, and many of them to 
a cruel death, for conscience sake ; but it was emphatically a day 
of preparation, of preparation for a higher and better state of 
things. In the midst of all that seemed to them so mysterious, 
oppressive and wrong, God was preparing the way for the set- 
ting up of his kingdom in this western world; for introducino- 
a new order of society both in church and state, and diffusino- 
far and wide through the world the principles of civil and reli- 
gious liberty. The sifting which our forefathers underwent 
was indeed a severe and trying one, and they saw not the end 
to which it was tending; but God saw it, and he sav/ that just 
such a sifting was necessary to procure the finest wheat with 
which to plant this western continent, and from which mio-ht 
spring a harvest to bless and save the world. 

You see the same principle illustrated in the history of our 
23 



260 DAY OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OF THINGS, 

revolutionary struggle. The most gloomy and terrible day this 
country ever saw was a few years anterior to, and during our 
long and bloody war with the mighty power of Great Britain. 
A few great men looked through the gloom and dared to hope 
for an happy issue. But appearances were surely very little in 
their favor. The day opened in storm, and disaster, and gloomy 
forebodings, and the hearts of many were ready to fail them for 
fear of what would be the end. But that too, as we now see, 
with the clearness of sunlight, was a day of preparation, of 
preparation for the peaceful enjoyment of the noble institutions, 
and abundant blessings of every name which for fourscore years 
have distinguished Our lot as a people, and made this the glory 
of all lands ; and though the arm of rebellion has been raised 
to smite down these institutions and overturn our government, 
that arm will assuredly be palsied in its wicked work, and law 
and order will be established over our whole nation on a firmer 
basis than ever. Little did the men who lived in the time of 
our revolution, whether our enemies in the British Parliament 
or our friends in the Continental Congress — little did they think, 
when entering into the bloody conflict, that they were battling, 
though in opposite ways, for the overthrow of despotism and 
the establishment of liberty throughout the world. And as little 
did the men who plunged our country into the present terrible 
war, imagine that they were entering upon a course that would 
destroy the institution which they prized above all things else, 
and which they designed to make the corner-stone of a mighty 
southern empire. 

I might draw other illustrations of our principle from several 
distinct periods in the history of religion in this country. The 
darkest period in this respect was during the half century that 
preceded the great revival in 1740. Religion, under various 
causes, had sunk very low. Laxness of doctrine, of morals 
and discipline in the churches was alarmingly prevalent, and 
it seemed, as Edwards says in his history of that period, as if 
the country was given over to error, irrehgion, vice and ruin. 
But just at the time when night to human view was the darkest, 
the dawn of a brighter day broke out, dispelled the thickening 
gloom, and shed its light over the land. It pleased God to pour 
out his spirit in a most remarkable manner ; a revival of religion 
took place which drew after it a train of consequences, whose 
blessed influence is felt to this day, and will continue to be felt 
till the end of time. Much the same might be said of the 



SELDOM A DAT OP HOPEFUL APPEARANCE. 261 

modern series of revivals, as they are sometiraes called, com- 
mencing about 1790, and continuing, with brief, temporary sus- 
pensions, till the present day. These revivals began amid very 
unfavorable appearances, and when few were looking for or ex- 
pecting them. They came most manifestly as the result of 
special, divine influence, and from them have sprung all the 
benevolent operations which distinguish our day, and which are 
doing so much to keep religion alive and healthy at home, and 
to spread the light and blessings of it through the world. Who 
that lived fifty or sixty years ago ever dreampt of what is being 
done at the present time to usher in the latter day glory of the 
church and establish the reisfn of Christ over all the earth. 

And so in respect to the future. We look around, we look 
abroad, and we see much, very much that is dark and discour- 
aging in regard to the progress of truth, of freedom and holi- 
ness on earth. Judging simply from appearances we should 
sink in despondency, and hardly dare expect that the time will 
ever come when light and salvation shall spread over all the 
earth, and the knowledge and praise of God shall fill the whole 
world. But could we look beyond appearances and see things 
in any manner as God sees them, we should discover amid the 
thick gloom that spreads on all sides, a spirit, shall I say — nay, 
a divine, almighty power moving on the face of the dark chaos, 
and giving promise of the breaking forth of light, and life, and 
order, and blessedness, from the midst of scenes which now 
seem to us so dark and discouraging. That which we here sur- 
mise will become history to those who are to live after us, and 
they w' ill read in the developments of God's providence the op- 
eration of causes, which, though hidden from our view and in- 
scrutable to our philosophy, are, irresistibly and certainly, tend- 
ing to a better and happier state of things — ^a state in which 
God sha,ll be universally known and loved, oppression and wrong 
cease from the earth, and all men be happy under the reign of 
him who is King for ever on the holy hill of Zion. 

In conclusion, I am led to remark, 

1. That our subject is well suited to enlighten and exalt our 
views of the divine providence. That Almighty Being, my 
brethren, whom we call God, is not an idle or an indiiFerent 
spectator of the world in which we live. By a providence ab- 
solutely universal he presides over its affairs, working all things 
after the counsel of his own will, and causing all events to ful- 
fill his own wise and benevolent designs. This is the proper, 



262 DAY OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OF THIKGS, 

scriptural idea of providence. " It is God's most holy, wise and 
powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all 
their actions," so as to make them accomplish his plans, and 
bring out the greac and benevolent results at which he aims in 
all his dispensations. This providence works behind a screen, 
and is noiseless in its movements. It is seen and felt by us only 
in its results. It works within us, around us, every where ; ex- 
tending to individuals, to families, to communities, to the world, 
to all worlds; and yet its mighty movements are borne on by 
an agency unseen, unfelt, while at the same time we are forced 
to admit that it is an agency absolutely universal and irresisti- 
ble. We are led to conceive of it as a great under-current, 
which, in the regulation of human affairs, moves on without 
our consent, and above our control. We bear a part in these 
affairs ; but it is like the jSshes playing in the stream, which 
passes over them, independent of their will, and flows on to its 
appointed place. What an idea does this give us of our insig- 
nificance and entire dependence on God! His providence is 
himself operating by his Almighty power, his infinite wisdom, 
his boundless goodness, to carry out his everlasting purposes to 
their results; this he does by means we comprehend not, and in 
ways which often seem to us deeply mysterious and almost in- 
consistent with the attributes of an all-perfect God ; yet, in the 
midst of all, we see him causing light to spring out of darkness, 
order out of confusion, good out of evil; and frequently when 
appearances in our view are all unfavorable and unpromising 
of good, he brings out the most glorious results, and sets forward 
most rapidly the great interests of his kingdom on earth. Many 
examples of this have been cited in the preceding discourse, 
and my object in all has been to impress on your minds a just 
and more exalted view of the providence of that Almighty Be- 
ing, who, while he sits in high authority over all worlds, reigns 
here in the midst of the earth, controlling all human affairs, di- 
recting the falling of a sparrow, and numbering the hairs of our 
head. 

2. Our subject is well fitted to show us our extreme ignorance 
of the future. This world is not under our government, but 
the government of God ; and he governs it in the manner best 
suited to make men feel that he governs it, and not they. He 
plants his footsteps in the deep and his ways are not known. 
He unvails his plans, so far as to let us know that they are 
his plans, and are tending to benevolent ends; but the particu- 



SELDOM A DAY OF HOPEFUL APPEARANCE. 263 

lar methods of their accomplishment, and all the details of his 
administration are hidden in his own infinite mind, and can be 
known by us, only as they are brought to light by the unfold- 
ings of his providence. Hence the future in all its particular 
circumstances and events, is completely hidden from our view. 
We know not what even a day or an hour may bring forth. 
"We may form our plans and indulge our hopes and look with 
conHdence, for the coming of this event or that; but divine 
providence may entirely disappoint our plans and frustrate our 
hopes, and bring events to pass which we never expected. 
And what is more, it will often appear in the issue, that if our 
plans and hopes had been realized^ we should have been ruined, 
while the events we feared, or hoped w^ould never come, were 
adapted and designed to work our highest good. The same 
law holds in respect to individuals, as to communities and na- 
tions. The hour of preparation for good coming to us and 
ours is often very far from being a time of favorable appearan- 
ces. Jacob, after his son Joseph had been stolen from him, and 
when his loved Benjamin was about to be taken and carried as 
a hostage down to Egypt, exclaimed in the bitterness of his 
soul; all these things are against me. Yet he lived to karn, 
that the very things, which he thought so sadly against him, 
were designed of God for the highest good both of himself and 
his family, and of the church descending in the line of his pos- 
terity. And who, that has lived long in the world, has not had 
experience very like that of Jacob ? For one I must say, 
that when I look back and remember the way in which the 
Lord my God has led me, these many years, I can recall a 
large number of cases in which, if I had been permitted to 
pursue my plans and realize my hopes, I should probably have 
been ruined; but God saw fit to disappoint me and lead me in 
a w^ay I knew not, and now I am fully convinced, that at the 
very time and in the very ways, which seemed to me most dark 
and trying, God was working for my good; bringing me bles- 
sings which so far as I can see, could have been brought to me 
in no other. way. Many whom I now address can, I presume, 
say the same. We are very short sighted creatures. We 
know not what is best for us, and least of all do we know in 
what way God may see fit to lead us, if he means to do us 
good in our latter end. 

" He moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform." 
23* 



264 DAT OF PREPARATION FOR A BETTER STATE OF THINGS, 

It is ours to stand in our lot ; ever ready to meet him in the 
unfoldings of his providence; holding ourselves always in a 
posture of mind to be rightly affected by his dealings with us, 
assured that if we do so, the darkest clouds that pass over us 
will be followed with the brightest light, and that heaven will 
crown the most painful and trying experiences of earth with 
immortal blessings. 

3. Our subject, while it show^s our ignorance of the future 
and our entire dependence on God, should lead us to repose 
calm, unwavering confidence in the wisdom and rectitude of 
his providence. True, we know very little of what is before 
us. But God knows, and that should satisfy us. True, our 
dependence on his almighty, all controlling providence is entire; 
and should not this be to us a source of constant contentment, 
joy and hope? On what safer foundation can we stand; or 
where commit our immortal interests with higher assurance 
that they will be taken care of in the best manner, and ren- 
dered secure for eternity ? "Would it be better to have the car- 
ving out of our own lot in life, the arrangement of our own 
circumstances, or the keeping of our own interests? Alas, 
for one who indulges such a thought. True, you may not be 
able to comprehend the ways of God ; nor see the reasons why 
he deals with you as he does; now hiding his face from you 
and vailing his dispensations in darkness; now leading you 
through the waters and now through the fires. But this you 
know, that the hand of God is in all the events that are taking 
place in respect to you ; and if not from your past experience, 
yet from confidence in his all-wise and benevolent providence, 
you should rest assured that though the scenes through which 
you are now passing, seem dark and little promising of good, 
they may be, and certainly will be, if you rightly improve 
them, preparatory to a brighter day rising upon you, and richer 
blessings to be poured into your cup. 

Here you may leave your sicknesses, your bereavements, your 
solicitudes, your disappointments and sorrows of every kind, 
and find repose in the prospect of a happier future, in the 
promise of a faithful God, that all your interests shall be safe 
in his hands and safe forever. This would simplify your mo- 
tives, free your heart from corroding solicitude, render you 
tranquil amid seeming reverses and lead you to wait upon God 
in reverence, faith and hope, for the fulfillment of his promises. 

Here we may leave the interests of the church and the world. 



SELDOM A DAY OP HOPEFUL APPEARANCE. 265 

assured that whatever dark days may arise, whatever upheav- 
ings there may be among the nations, or whatever overturnings 
and disasters in our own country, — that God by his almighty 
providence is controlhng and guiding all and preparing the 
way for a brighter and happier future. Here, my brethren, is 
rock for our feet on which we may stand and feel that all is 
safe forever. Here I endeavor to plant my feet, and here I 
invite you to plant yours. God governs this world by a series 
of progressive changes ; each in advance of the one preceding. 
The wheels of his providence always move forward, never 
backward. The great law of progress in this world is revolu- 
tion, revolution, revolution. You can point to no important 
step in human progress, whether in civilization or religion, that 
was not connected with this law, — overturn, overturn, overturn. 
Hence when I see the ways broken up and the floods pouring 
in, threatening to engulph all things, I have long been wont to 
fall back on this truth for repose and hope, and to say, — roll on, 
roll on, — there is an unseen hand at the bottom of all these 
movements, and out of the whole will come a better state of 
things. Here I gather comfort and hope amid the scenes of 
devastation and woe that have so long been spreading over our 
country. There is an all-wise, almighty providence to be rec- 
ognized in these scenes, and we may rest assured that in conse- 
quence of the fiery ordeal through which we are passing, the 
cause of liberty, of civilization and religion will be advanced, 
and that all which relates to the best interests of our country, 
of the church and the world will be more widely diffused and 
established upon a firmer basis than ever. 

4. Finally our subject carries forward our thoughts to the 
developments of a future world. The scenes of the present 
life are all preparatory to the life which is to come. Some of 
them are bright, many obscure, many dark, many mysterious and 
trying and give faint promise of good in the future. But may 
we not, in all these scenes, apply the principle of which we have 
been speaking, and affirm with confidence, that those clouded, 
variable, stormy days of our earthly pilgrimage, though in our 
view little favorable to such an issue, are still days of prepara- 
tion for a higher and nobler state of being, even an eternal 
residence in the kingdom of everlasting light and blessedness? 
Our condition in this world, does, indeed, look very little like 
rising hereafter to be equal unto the angels as our Saviour 
promises ; to dwell in God's presence, to behold his glory and 



266 DAY OF PREPARATION, ETC. 

eternally enjoy his friendship and love. But God's ways are 
not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. Wait a lit- 
tle, and the clouds that hang over our present state of being 
will pass away ; our weaknesses, our sorrows, our imperfections 
and sins be dropped; all now so unfitting us for heaven, and 
seeniing to make it so doubtful whether we shall ever be ad- 
mitted there ; and God, in his wonder-working providence and 
grace, will perfect that which concerneth us; adorn us in the 
beauties of holiness and raise us to that pure and eternally 
blessed state of being, for which all his treatment of us in this 
world was adapted and designed to prepare us. Then we shall 
be prepared to study this subject as now we are not. Then we 
shall see how a wise and gracious providence, even in the most 
mysterious and trying circumstances of life, was kindly operating 
for our good, and preparing us, even when we thought all things 
were against us, and we were ready to give up all hope and 
sink down amid the deep waters that rose and beat around us, 
— yes, preparing us, even then, for the crown of glory and for 
the songs of immortality. And doubtless, should it be our hap- 
py lot finally to reach that blessed world, it will be a part, and 
a most blessed part of our employment to look back, and re- 
member all the way our blessed God and Saviour led us in this 
world, while by his providence and grace he was preparing us 
to enter in and take possession of the promised inheritance in 
glory. 



SERMON XXV. 



THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE OF BEING HAPPY. 

Psalm 4: 6, 7. There be many that say, who will show us any good? 
Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put joy 
and gladness in my heart more than in the time when their corn and wine are 
increased. 

It would be only repeating what every body knows to be 
true, to say that happiness is an object of universal desire. 
The craving after some good, as expressed in the text, is com- 
mon to all human beings ; and in many it is so intense and 
restless as to become a source of positive uneasiness and dis- 
content. 

There are thousands, who go through life, asking every day, 
in one form or another, who will show us any good ; who will 
tell us what happiness is, and where it is to be found ? This 
question the Psalmist knew well how to answer. He had de- 
cided it in his own happy experience. He had dwelling in his 
bosom that indispensable prerequisite to happiness, confidence 
in God, and hope in his favor. He could therefore ask the 
Lord, in his time of need, to smile upon him as a kind Father, 
and to shine on him as a bright sun ; and this he had found 
from experience, made him happier, put more joy and gladness 
into his heart, than the greatest confluence of worldly good 
could ever afford the ungodly. 

In contemplating the text thus explained, a subject has been 
suggested to my mind on which I propose to dwell in the pres- 
ent discourse; and if I can succeed in illustrating it in any man- 
ner according to my wishes, I would fain hope it will be found 
both interesting and useful to my hearers. I have already said 
that multitudes inquire after happiness all their days, without 
seeming to know what it is, or where they can find it. I would 
invite such to listen to what I am about to say, and they may, 
perhaps, find a solution of their perplexities and doubts. 



268 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

My subject is this : — 

The duty, method and importance of being happy. 

I shall not spend time, to define very exactly what happiness 
is. We all know well enough what it is, in a general sense. 
Happiness is a relative term, and is used to denote various 
kinds and degrees of enjoyment. In this sense, birds and 
beasts and fishes and all living things may be said to be happy ; 
that is, they have enjoyment, of some kind and degree, accord- 
ing to their nature and capacity for receiving it. But the hap- 
piness of which I am to speak is of a brighter and purer char- 
acter. It relates especially to the mind, to the intellectual, 
moral and social nature of man. I seek the foundation, the es- 
sential elements of it not in the body, but in the soul ; in the 
sensibilities, faculties, dispositions, aspirations and workings of 
the inner man. All else is merely outside, superficial, transient, 
and leaves the deepest wants of man entirely unsatisfied. The 
things here referred to, relating to our earthly, temporal being, 
have indeed their value, and often exert an important influence 
on our happiness, and are therefore not to be disregarded or 
despised. But, after all, there are wants of the soul which 
no earthly good can satisfy ; and it is of a happiness adapted to 
meet and remove these wants, I am now to speak, and the at- 
tainment of which I am to urge upon you as a duty. It 
is seated, as I have said, in the soul ; and consists in a calm, 
cheerful, submissive and contented state of mind. It may not 
and it need not rise to rapture or high pleasurable excitement 
of any kind, in order to reach the point of happiness ; but it 
implies the possession of a tranquil, composed, and hoping 
spirit ; freedom from corroding anxiety and care ; from . all 
gloomy, depressing apprehension as to the future, together wdth 
a cheerful acquiescence in the allotments of divine providence, 
a calm, confiding rest in that providence, and a pleasant, sustain- 
ing hope of a brighter and better inheritance reserved for us 
hereafter. 

Such is the nature of the happiness which I am to commend 
to you, not only as a privilige, but as a sacred and most impor- 
tant Christian duty. Can this be shown to be a duty ; that is, a 
duty binding on each one of us, to maintain cheerfulness, con- 
tentedness, submission, trust and hope, as a settled habit of 
mind, amid the various chang-es and trials we may meet with in 
the journey of hfe ? This I aflirm as a duty. And in proof 
of it, I remai'k, 



OF BEING HAPPY. 269 

1. That by far the greater part of the unhappiness which 
people complain of, is of their own procuring, and is to be set 
down as resulting, not from any unavoidable necessity, either 
of nature or circumstances, but from a perverted free agency; 
from violating some of the laws of our being; from voluntary 
indiscretions, errors and sins. It comes from the indulgence of 
wrong feelings, wrong tempers, wrong dispositions and habits; 
and from pursuing wrong courses of life, and selfish plans of 
enjoyment. Remove the sources of unhappiness here referred 
to, and little comparatively would remain to embitter the cup of 
life, or make us unhappy. The gloom and the melancholy, the 
corroding anxiety and carking care, under which so many groan 
and fret away life, would disappear from their mental horizon, 
giving place to the clear, pleasant sunshine of cheerfulness, con- 
tentment and hope. Now if the unhappiness of which so many 
complain is the larger part of it caused by themselves, then it 
is certainly their duty to cease from so profitless, so bad a work, 
and make room for happiness to enter in and shed its light and 
comfort upon the inner man. 

2. It is our duty to be happy, because it is our duty to 
be right, right in our feelings, principles, habits and aims ; and 
just so far as we are so, we must, and we shall be happy. 
Does any one doubt this ? Eject then from your bosom the 
causes of unhappiness just referred to, and come under the in- 
fluence of a right spirit, disinterestedness, benevolence, kindness, 
humbleness of mind, sympathy and love ; and would you fail 
to be happy ? The happiness of which I here speak is of 
course in the state of the mind. It is independent in a great 
measure, of outward circumstances. Wealth cannot create it ; 
poverty cannot take it away. It is not measured by the riches, 
honors or social position and worldly pleasures which you may 
possess. It lies within. It consists in the harmony of the af- 
fections, with the rule of right ; in the possession and exercise 
of those internal graces and virtues which are in their very na- 
ture peaceful and blessed. In the possession of this inward 
source of quietness, repose and hope, a man may be happy, and 
will be happy, whatever be his outward condition. Facts in- 
numerable might be cited in proof of this. But let me rather 
refer you to your own observation and experience. Have you 
not always been happy just in proportion as wrong feelings and 
ill tempers have been ejected from your bosom, and right feel- 
ings and kind, benevolent tempers are admitted to fill their 



270 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

place ? Were you ever unhappy while the graces of a right 
spirit, love, gentleness, meekness, goodness, truth and gratitude 
reigned in the inner man, and threw their influence over your 
daily life? Never ; the thing is impossible. Now, if it is a duty 
to feel right and to be right in the habitual frame of our minds, 
it is equally a duty to be happy ; for the one is the necessary 
result of the other, and can not be separated from it. 

3. God wishes us to be happy, or, it is his will that we 
should be happy. This can not be doubted by any who be- 
lieve that God is a Being of infinite wisdom and goodness. If 
this is his character, then he could not but have designed 
our happiness in our creation ; happiness, I mean, not indeed 
in sin, but in goodness, in conformity to his will, to right. 
Happiness in sin, happiness in rebellion against God ; or out- 
side the normal conditions of our being, against the laws he has 
ordained and appointed in us, — this is plainly impossible. But 
that God made us to be good, and thus to be happy, is just as 
certain as that he is a wise and benevolent Being. Look then 
at this fact, — He who made us made us to be happy ; he 
desires us to be happy ; and does it not follow that it is a duty 
to be happy; a duty most sacred and important, enforced 
by the will of God and essential to the great end for which he 
made and sustains us in being ? 

True, in our present state, there are many things within and 
without, which tend to perplex and try us, and, in point of fact, 
do often greatly interrupt and disturb our happiness. But 
things of this sort, as I have before said, are, for the most part, 
of our own procuring ; we bring them on ourselves by wrong 
feeling and wrong acting, and thus increase their power to make 
us unhappy. But so far as they come upon us in the course of 
divine providence, by the appointment of God, they can hardly 
be regarded in any other light, than as means designed of our 
Father in heaven to promote our present and future happiness. 
They are among the all things which work together for our 
good. And such is always their effect when they are received 
and submitted to in a right state of mind. 

" When our sorrows most increase, 

Then his richest joys are given ; 
Jesus comes in our distress 

And agony is heaven." 

Thousands have found this true from experience ; have been 
happier in the midst of disappointments and crosses, in sickness 



OF BEING HAPPY. 271 

and suffering, and even in death, than they ever were before. 
While all was dark and trying without, all was light and peace 
and joy within. There were no two individuals in all Philippi 
so happy as Paul and Silas were, when, after having been 
scourged, and put in chains and thrust into the lowest dungeon, 
they made the walls of their prison echo at midnight, with the 
voice of prayer, and songs of thanksgiving and praise to God. 
Their happiness was within, springing from the mind and the 
heart, filled with love, and peace, and hope, and nothing could 
disturb it. So it was with the martyrs of old. They took joy- 
fully the spoiling of their goods, and went singing and happy to 
the gibbet and the stake, sustained by an inward peace and 
joy which no outward trials could take from them. 

4. Further, to show that it is a duty to be happy, let me re- 
quest you to look at the constitution of man as made in the im- 
age of God, and formed to share, according to his measure, in 
the happiness of God. Survey your make, the structure 
of your being, your intellectual and social nature, your sensibil- 
ities, your faculties of thought and reasoning, of memory and 
imagination, and your capacities for action and enjoyment ; and 
do you discover anything in them, in their normal state, and 
proper exercise, which seems designed to produce misery or to 
make you unhappy, — any function or apparatus, if I may so 
speak, intended to work in you envy, malice, fretfulness, pee- 
vishness, repining, despondency and distrust, or any other 
of the many elements of a dissatisfied, unhappy state of mind ? 
Do you not rather discover just the opposite of this, a law per- 
vading your whole mental constitution, making it certain that 
the right, normal exercise of your powers and affections can re- 
sult only in making you happy ? I can not enlarge on this 
topic ; but I ask you to examine it, to examine it carefully, and 
I am perfectly sure that in proportion as you do so, you will be 
convinced that all the faculties God has given you, and all the 
sensibilities, social affections and aspirations he has implanted 
within you, were designed by him to make you happy and in 
their proper exercise and use can never fail to produce this re- 
sult. This being so, it is plainly your duty to be happy, just as 
much as it is your duty to live for the end for which God made 
you, and in accordance with the faculties and capacities he has 
given you. The same thing is evident, 

5. From the abundant means God has provided to render 
you happy. What these are I cannot mention in detail. 

24 



272 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

They surround you on every side ; they meet you everywhere ; 
and they are adapted to satisfy all your reasonable desires and 
wants, and thus to make you happy. All the faculties of the 
mind find ample scope for exercise amid the grand and beauti- 
ful works of God, and the sublime teachings of his word and 
providence. He who made you and made you to be happy, 
has provided means adapted to gratify all your desires and as- 
pirations, so far as they are right and proper. 

The whole world is a store-house of means adapted to make 
you happy ; and rightly used would secure this result ; would 
lead you from nature up to nature's God, and would thus 
spread unspeakable glory over all that you see and enjoy in 
this lower creation ; and so, passing through scenes of grandeur 
and blessedness surrounding you on every side, your full heart 
would break forth in the language of the poet and sing, — 

Lord of earth, thy forming hand, 
Well this beauteous frame hath spann'd, 
Woods that wave and hills that tower, 
All that strikes the gaze unsought, 
All that charms the lonely thought ; 
Who amid this scene so fair, 
Who but must be happy here? 

But the means God has provided for our happiness do not stop 
in the things of earth and time. They go beyond our temporal 
and physical wants, and even beyond our present intellectual 
and spiritual wants ; they pass over to a future state of being ; 
and cheer us on, as we pursue the journey of life, with the light 
of an eternal day awaiting us in our home in heaven. Thus it 
is that God meets us with the means of happiness as soon as 
we enter upon the stage of life, and he follows us with these 
means at every subsequent stage of our course ; inviting and 
urging us to be happy, and plainly marking out the way for us 
to be happy ; and then, we hearing his voice and following his 
lead, consummating the whole by making us perfectly and for- 
ever blessed in heaven. 

I have omitted to draw arguments directly from the Scriptures 
to enforce the duty in question. Many such I might set before 
you, but I have not time. I will only say that it is the current 
spirit and teaching of God's word that if we obey his precepts, 
and love and trust him as we ought, we shall be happy; and it 
is set before us as a Christian duty, that we should rejoice in the 



OF BEING HAPPY. 273 

Lord always ; be thankful always ; contented always, like Paul, 
in whatever state we are; and so be happy, confiding, hoping 
always, till, like one of old, we shall exclaim, in the conscious- 
ness of a settled habit of mind — my heart is fixed, O God, my 
heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise. 

II. Let us now consider, secondly, the method or the way to 
be happy. 

1. And here the first direction is, we must leave off making 
ourselves unhappy. If a man would enjoy good health he must 
not eat bad food, nor breathe bad air ; or if he would be free 
from pain he must not burn his own flesh, nor bruise his own 
limbs. Just so if a man would be happy he must cease to make 
himself unhappy. He must turn out all those consumers of 
his happiness which are so apt to find a home in the bosom. 
Their name is legion, and by many they are indulged and 
nursed to the overthrow of all internal peace and comfort. Do 
you ask what they are? They hardly need be named to be 
recognized. They are bad feelings, bad tempers, envies, jeal- 
ousies, pride, ambitious aspirings, covetous desires, craving after 
what can not be had, misanthropy, moping melancholy; in a 
word, the whole family of evils, born of selfishness, self-seeking, 
and self-pleasing, and the like. Happiness can not live in the 
midst of this bad brood; and whenever brought into contact 
with them, it at once takes flight or withers and dies in their 
presence. No ; if you would be happy, happy in the enjoyment 
of a goodly inheritance, a land of promise within, you must be- 
gin by subduing the Canaanites and driving out the Philistines. 
You can never have any true happiness under their rule, nor in 
any compromise or connection ^ith them. They must be utterly 
driven out, and the soil now overrun, by their bad culture, with 
briars and thorns, and all sorts of nettles, must be sown with, 
seeds of patience, kindness, gentleness and love, which will be 
sure to spring up and yield a full harvest of pure, satisfying 
happiness. 

2. This suggests another thing essential to being happy ; it is 
the cultivation of the kind and benevolent affections — love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, truth; 
these virtues in habitual exercise, as they are required to be, 
can not fail to diffuse sunshine and pleasantness over the whole 
mind and life. The happiness springing from them is calm, 
serene, satisfying and enduring, and it is little disturbed by the 
winds and clouds that sometimes sweep over our path and dim 



274 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

for a time the light of our horizon. A spirit of kindness and 
'love, of benevolence and good will reigning within, is a sure, 
and it is a permanent source of happiness to its possessor. It 
is happy in seeing and making others happy, and it thus secures 
a reaction of good on itself, just in proportion to its activity in 
seeking the good of others. Its reward is a constant increase 
of its own joy, and peace, and hope. It is strange that the 
world is so slow to learn that selfishness is a poor starveling vice. 
Give it reins, or let it rule in the inner man, and it is sure to 
drive from the bosom all true enjoyment, and to make its sub- 
ject a very slave. This is indeed the chief source of this 
world's misery. It is a selfish world. All seek their own, not 
the things of Jesus Christ ; not the good of others ; and this 
necessarily wakes up the bad feelings, and spreads the bitter 
fruits of envy, jealousy, ill will and strife, on every side. The 
finest recipe for true happiness I ever saw, was that given by a 
little girl as she sat sewing by the side of her mother. As if 
struck by some new idea, she started up and said: Mother, I 
have just thought how I can be happy, and I mean to be happy 
always. How is that? asked the mother. Why, replied the 
child, to care nothing about myself and try to make every body 
else happy. It is even so. To forget self, to go out of self, to 
cease to live and care for self, and seek to honor God and 
make others happy ; this is the true secret of happiness, and no 
one who acts in accordance with this rule can fail of being 
happy. 

And here let me turn your attention for a moment to the 
Saviour's prescription for being happy, as expressed in the be- 
atitudes contained in the opening of his sermon on the mount. 
He begins thus : Blessed, that is, happy — happy are the poor in 
spirit ; happy are they that mourn ; happy are the meek ; happy 
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness ; happy the mer- 
ciful ; happy the pure in heart ; happy the peace-makers ; happy 
the persecuted for righteousness' sake. Ask now what is the 
principle, the source of the happiness expressed in these differ- 
ent terms ? Plainly, it is internal ; it springs from the affections ; 
it takes its rise from humbleness of mind; from submission; 
from meekness ; from aspirations after spiritual good; from mer- 
cifulness; from purity of heart; from a peace-making disposi- 
tion; and from patience when called to suffer for righteousness' 
sake. These virtues are so many springs of pure present hap- 
piness to those who possess them, and there is a promise at- 



OF BEING HAPPY. 



275 



tached to each one of them of higher and purer happiness 
hereafter. 

I ought, perhaps, before this to have stated that if you would 
be happy, you must, at the outset, form a just idea of what is 
suited to make you happy. Men are for ever deceiving them- 
selves on this subject, rushing into a thousand roads in search 
of happiness without finding it, or even knowing what it is. 
Now you need not be told that the whole catalogue of immor- 
alities, vices, sensual indulgences and the like, must be swept 
away as utterly destructive of all true happiness. They may 
afford a momentary pleasure, and this gives them their power 
to tempt and deceive ; but they always bring misery in their 
train, and sooner or later it is sure to be inflicted on their 
wretched victims. 

The same may be said of the pleasures of sense, even the 
more refined of them, and of the whole class of exciting amuse- 
ments, as balls, theatrical entertainments, and shows of various 
kinds, designed merely to gratify the eye or the ear, or the 
cravings of a restless, frivolous imagination. One common de- 
fect pertains to them all; they are necessarily of short duration; 
they quickly pass away and leave an aching void behind, only 
increased by previous indulgence. Few persons are more un- 
happy than those who seek to be hajDpy by a continued round 
of pleasure. And when opportunity fails them, or their facul- 
ties decay, such persons are left destitute and desperate, teased 
by desires that can never be gratified, and the memory of 
pleasures which can return no more. Can riches make you 
happy? O yes, you say; let me have riches and I shall be 
happy. No, it is not so; but if you set your heart upon them, 
or seek them as your chief good, they are sure to inflame your 
selfishness and thus increase your misery. The rich man, it is 
said, shall fade away in his ways. A terrible declaration this, 
which is daily accomplished before our eyes. A sad blight goes 
in the way of riches without something better within. That 
blight overtakes and consumes all true peace and comfort, and 
leaves in their stead nought but vexation and discontent. Un- 
der the roof of opulence, of luxury, of pride and show, are 
found uneasy, restless souls, in countless number, dying of hun- 
ger for that which no wealth can procure for them. 

You may try to make you a paradise on earth, but you will 
find a serpent in it, and a tempter too, and your happiness an- 
ticipated will leave you. 
24* 



276 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

Then as to office, honor, rank, distinction of social position, 
and the like — can these make you happy? Universal experi- 
ence and observation answer no. Indeed, these and all other 
mere earthly distinctions and possessions have one common 
character given them by the wise man — they are vanity and 
vexation of spirit; there is nothing in them to make us truly 
happy, or satisfy the deep, irrepressible longings of the soul. 
And here, in addition to what has before been said, let me just 
hint at two or three things which are essential as means of be- 
ing happy. 

1. Do not try to govern the world, or attempt to control 
things which lie beyond your control. Men bring upon them- 
selves a great deal of needless anxiety and suffering from this 
cause. To illustrate this, let me mention an incident that oc- 
curred in the time of Cromwell, in 1655. England was in a 
distracted, revolutionary state, suffering from civil war. An 
envoy by the name of Bulstrode Whitlock was sent to the con- 
tinent to negotiate matters at one of the foreign courts — Sweden, 
if I mistake not. The night he spent at Harwich before sail- 
ing was very stormy, and after retiring to his room he was filled 
with anxiety and fear, and could get no sleep. His servant ob- 
serving his restlessness, said to him — what is the matter, sir? 
you appear to be in great trouble, you can not sleep. O, he re- 
plied, things look so dark in my country ; I fear we shall all be 
ruined. Pray, sir, said the servant, may I ask you a question? 
Certainly, was the reply. Don't you think God governed the 
world very w^ell before you was in it ? Undoubtedly. And do 
you not think he will govern it as well when you are out of it ? 
Certainly. Then, sir — pray excuse me — but don't you think 
you may as well trust God to govern it as long as you're in it 
and you go to sleep? To this question Whitlock had nothing 
to reply; but dismissing his useless anxieties and fears, fell 
asleep, till he was summoned to embark the next morning. 

The advice of the servant, somewhat quaint as it is, contains 
a principle of sound common sense, and of great practical use. 
Many, many persons bring upon themselves a world of vexation 
and trouble by attempting to govern in matters which lie beyond 
their control, and with which they have no concern, or which 
their influence can not reach. Jt is not assigned to us to govern 
the world ; that belongs to God, and we should cheerfully com- 
mit to him the control of all such things as lie without our 
sphere and beyond our influence. We are not responsible for 



OF BEING HAPPY. 277 

them, nor should we be troubled about them, any more than 
about the motion of the planets or the flowing of the tide. 

2. If you would be happy, always have an object in view — 
something to engage your mind and occupy your time. The 
more valuable this object the better, and the more earnest you 
are in pursuing it, the happier you are likely to be. Some of 
the most unhappy persons in the world are those that have 
nothing to do, or who do nothing. They are always uneasy and 
dissatisfied; suffering continually from ennui, vacuity of mind, 
a feeling of weariness and good-for-nothingness. 

Engagement, as Dr. Paley truly says, is every thing in the 
matter of happiness. The most dihgently occupied persons are 
usually the happiest. And hence men of business can not do 
a worse thing for themselves, so far as their happiness is con- 
cerned, than to retire, as the phrase is, when they have got 
enough, and sit down to live at their ease. No; the wiser 
course, if we would be happy, is always to have something to 
do, and always to be doing it. This will keep us from rusting 
out, and also keep us from the direful disease of ennui, before 
referred to, and which, next to sharp pain, is hardest to be borne. 

3. Form the habit of looking at things on the bright side. 
Some persons never look at the sun but they see a cloud over 
it, nor think of to-morrow without borrowing trouble. Such 
persons dwell much more on their trials than on their mercies, 
and feed much more upon the little inconveniences and annoy- 
ance^ they meet with than on the blessings that are daily be- 
stowed upon them. Now just the reverse of this should be our 
habit. We should think much of our mercies and little of our 
trials. The former, even in the worst circumstances in which 
we can well be placed, greatly outweigh the latter. 

I can not better set this thought before you than in the lan- 
guage of Jeremy Taylor in his excellent treatise on Holy Liv- 
ing. He supposes a case, as if it related to himself. I have 
fallen into the hands of publicans and sequestrators, and they 
have taken all from me. What now ? Let me look about me. 
They have left me the sun and moon, fire and water, a loving 
wife and many friends to pity me, and some to relieve me, and 
I can still discourse ; and unless I list, they have not taken 
away my merry countenance, and my cheerful spirit, and a good 
conscience ; they have left me the providence of God, and all 
the promises of the gospel, and my religion, and my hopes of 
heaven, and my charity to them too ; and I still sleep and di- 



278 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

gest ; I eat and drink ; I read and meditate ; I can walk in my 
neighbor's pleasant fields, and see the variety of nature's beau- 
ties, and delight in all that in which God delights, that is, in 
virtue and wisdom, in the whole creation, and in God himself. 
And he that hath so many causes of joy and so great, is very 
much in love with sorrow and peevishness, who loses all these 
pleasures and chooses to sit down upon his little handful of 
thorns." Admirably said ; and if the lesson here taught were 
duly impressed on our minds so as to rule our inner man, it 
would put an end to most of the discontents and complainings 
of life, and inspire us with constant thankfulness and joy. But, 
4. I must add one thing more as absolutely essential to make 
you happy, and that is, a mind ruled by the love of God and 
cheered with the hope of everlasting life. All the world placed 
in your possession could not make you happy without this. You 
are created for immortality ; there are aspirations, longings of 
soul, which go beyond the things of earth and time, and which 
no amount or kind of earthly good can possibly satisfy. There 
is a God who rules over you ; your everlasting all is at his dis- 
posal ; this great fact is fully recognized in your inner conscious- 
ness ; and while it is there, you can never be happy without 
God ; can never be happy in estrangement from him, or living 
in rebellion against him. The heart is always tormented, said 
Augustin, till it reposes in God. 

What nothing earthly gives or can destroy, 
The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt bliss, 
That may be found in God, and nowhere else. « 

Never, no, never, can you be really happy but in the con- 
sciousness of being at peace with him who made you, and of 
having good hope of eternal life in his kingdom of glory. Till 
this great change be wrought in you, and wrought in you it 
never will be, never can be, but by a spiritual conversion, a true 
renewing of the heart by the Holy Spirit, — till this change be 
wrought in you, so as to become a matter of personal experi- 
ence, sin will have the dominion over you; your affections will 
be earthly and selfish, fixed on the things of sense and time, and 
you will continually be oppressed with hunger and want, as was 
the poor prodigal in a far off* land; with hunger and want 
which the husks of this world can never satisfy or remove. 
" You may say I will have peace; I will be at rest; I will be 
happy ; I will ! And you may resort to all the means the 



OF BEING HAPPY. 279 

world can afford to gain your object. But you will not gain it. 
It will continually elude your grasp and mock your hopes." And 
who is it that says, I will be happy, I will ? A poor creature, 
fallen and sinful, sold to evil and so long as he counts only 
on his own strength, succeeds only in conquering sin by sin, 
proceeding from one sin to another, replacing the low rebellion 
of vice by the haughty rebellion of pride and self-righteousness. 
No, the power of sin must be broken, the soul must be set free, 
free in the love of God, in the faith of Christ, in the hope of 
immortal happiness in heaven — this is the absolute, the God 
ordained condition of true happiness ; and to seek it or hope for 
it in any other way, or on any lower terms, can result in noth- 
ing but disappointment 5 sorrow and wo. 

III. I have left myself no time to dwell on the third topic 
proposed for consideration, — the importance of being happy. 
Nor perhaps is this necessary. For having shown you the 
duty of being happy, and the method in which you may be 
happy, I might here properly leave the subject for each one to 
estimate its importance and its practical bearings. But I can 
not conclude without dwelling for a m.oment on this point. It 
is not common I believe, for happiness to be inculcated as a 
duty. It is usually regarded as a matter which every one must 
be left to dispose of as he chooses, without incurring any moral 
responsibility. But is it so? Recall the arguments by which 
it has been proved that to be happy is a duty, — God made us 
to be happy; he wishes us to be happy; he has marked out 
the way and provided the means by which we may be happy, 
and in divers parts of his word has clearly signified his will, 
both by command, exhortation and promise, that we should be 
happy. Now with these facts in mind, can you believe that it 
is a matter of indifference with God whether you be happy or 
not, or that you are under no obligation to be happy? No ; un- 
happiness is disobedience, disobedience to the will of God; it 
counteracts the end for which he made you ; perverts the . bles- 
sings he bestows upon you and makes your life a reflection, not 
of honor, but of dishonor on his name. A man of a discon- 
tented, murmuring, unhappy, fault-finding, repining spirit, is a 
dishonor to his Maker. Pie is in no fit condition of mind to 
do good in the world, either to himself or any body else. His 
selfishness, which is the real cause of his unhappiness, both 
unfits and indisposes him to consult or to act for the good of 
others. Unhappiness indulged as a habit, tends to contract the 



280 THE DUTY, METHOD AND IMPORTANCE 

mind, to chill the affections, to sour the temper, and to unnerve 
the energies of the inner man; the longer it continues the more 
intense it becomes and the more hurtful in its whole influence 
on the character and prospects of the individual in whom it is 
allowed to dwell. It seals up the voice of joy and thanksgiv- 
ing, casts a deepening shade over the path of life, and makes 
the approach to the grave more sad and gloomy. Am I not 
right then in saying that unhappiness is disobedience, is sin? 
Why is it not so, as really as the transgression of any com- 
mand of the decalogue; as the indulgence of any other wrong 
or hurtful habit of mind? 

Look now at happiness, true happiness, that which springs 
from a contented, submissive, cheerful, confiding and thankful 
spirit, and how blessed its effects upon the whole character, and 
how enlivening and animating its influence upon all the inter- 
course, plans and pursuits of life? It tends more than anything 
else to develop and form a right character; it quickens and 
brings out the faculties of the mind ; it cheers and enlivens the 
affections ; it awakens an interest in the welfare of others, and 
while it expresses itself in clear, unmistakable signs, through the 
eye, the look of the countenance, the tones of the voice, and 
the very gait of the person, it sheds an attractive, genial, happy 
influence upon all around. It glorifies God ; it honors religion ; 
it tends to convince others that there is a treasure more excel- 
lent than the world can afford, and thus leads them to inquire 
how and where true happiness can be found. In a word, the 
happiness of which I have been speaking as a duty and a priv- 
ilege and a good attainable by all, is in every aspect in which 
it can be viewed, of supreme value and importance. It makes 
life a reality worth possessing; it lightens all the changes and 
trials we meet with ; gives songs in the night ; imparts a fresh 
charm and beauty to all the works of God ; enhances our enjoy- 
ment in all the temporal blessings, divine providence bestows 
upon us; spreads light along our path in life, and brightness 
over the prospect of the future ; and as we near the closing 
scene, dispels the darkness of the way and we pass over the 
narrow stream of death, filled with peace and hope, to have 
our happiness, begun on earth, consummated in the everlasting 
happiness of heaven. — Just as a Christian, dying, once whispered 
— I can no longer pray, but I can still love and be happy ; and 
thus loving and loved he went full of joy to cross the thresh- 
old of his eternal abode. 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 281 

I here close, with just asking ; — are you, my dear hearers, 
happy? .With respect to happiness are you what you ought 
to be ; are you contented with yourselves ? Would you be 
willing to die as you are; can you say with that excellent, 
Christian woman, Mary Lyon, — I am afraM of nothing in this 
world, but that I shall not know and do my whole duty; 
This question goes to the heart of our subject. Live so 
that you shall be able to say, — I fear nothing in this world, 
but that I shall not know and do my whole duty, and your 
peace will be as a river, and your happiness as the noon day. 
And passing through the grave will be to you the entrance into 
immortal life. 

Oh, change, Oh, wondrous change ; 
There lies the soulless clod ; 
The sun eternal breaks ; 
The new immortal wakes, — 
Wakes with God. 



SERMON XXVI. 



HOVr TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 

Job 5 : 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of 
corn Cometh in in his season. 

A FIELD of grain, fully ripe, waving to the breeze, and ready 
to be gathered, in rich golden sheaves, into the garner, is 
a beautiful sight to behold. That field had its season of plough- 
ing, sowing and cultivation. The seed, scattered in the mel- 
lowed and well prepared soil, sprung up and grew, under the 
genial influence of the sun, the rain and the dew ; showing first 
the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, till ripened 
and ready for reaping, the husbandman thrust in his sickle and 
gathered the rich, " yellow harvest home." This is the strik- 



282 HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 

ing comparison used in our text to set forth the process, growth 
and issue of a well spent, religious life. It was applied by 
Eliphaz to Job, and was designed to assure him that if 
he should S23end life as he ought, in obedience to God, he 
would advance intd age pleasantly, and happily ; would not be 
cut off before the fruits of righteousness had fully ripened in 
his life ; but would be preserved to a good old age, and would 
finally come to his grave, and thence to heaven, as a shock of 
corn fully ripe in his season. This is to be taken as express- 
ing a general principle or rule. A w^ell spent life is usually a 
prolonged and happy life. As it passes from childhood to 
youth, and from youth to middle age, and from thence to old 
age, it exhibits, at its different stages, the various aspects 
and beauties of a springing and ripening field of grain, and 
finally terminates in a rich harvest, meet to be gathered into 
the garner of heaven. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full 
age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. 

I shall take occasion from the text to show how to grow old 
gracefully, or how to grow old so that age, as it advances, may 
be an honor and a comfort to us, and terminate in peace and 
happiness. The subject may seem to be applicable only to the 
aged, or those just passing the meridian of life. But I mean 
so to treat it as to make it instructive and useful to all of every 
age, who hear me. All are advancing along a common path, 
conducting through the several stages of life, to old age and 
death. We occupy different positions on that path, — some are 
just setting out, others are mid way, and others are near 
the end ; while others still occupy the intermediate points, and 
all the way is filled with travellers, moving on as a long funeral 
procession, to old age, to the grave and eternity. And there is 
no stopping on the way. Those in the front ranks will quickly 
reach the appointed goal and be gone; those following after 
will as quickly move forward to fill their places, and the 
youngest here to-day, will swiftly be hurried through the 
different stages of life's brief journey, and, ere they are aware, 
they will be the aged, next to yield up their life and pass to the 
unseen world. This being the inevitable lot of all, all have an 
interest in knowing how to gi-ow old gracefully, or in a right 
and becoming manner. 

1 . Here my first remark is, we should bear it in mind that 
we must grow old. This is the law of our being, fixed and cer- 
tain as the law of mortality. Those who are now going on in 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 2B3 

the meridian of life may not, it is true, live to old age. Many 
of this class here present will, no doubt, die in the midst of their 
days, and never know from experience what it is to be old. 
But if life be prolonged, the swift passing years will, sooner 
than they think, whirl them on through the successive periods 
allotted them on earth, and having, passed the meridian line, the 
sun of life will begin to decline ; decay will commence its cer- 
tain, inevitable work, and go on, taking away health, vigor, 
strength, and activity, till at length it will impress, both on 
body and mind, the infirmities, weaknesses and sufferings of old 
age. This is the inevitable allotment ; and we should ever be 
mindful of it, and begin betimes to prepare for the hastening 
crisis. For if we would grow old gracefully the requisite pre- 
paration must be entered upon in early life, before the char- 
acter is formed and the habits fixed. He who misimproves 
the morning of his life, or spends it in contracting habits of 
vicious indulgence, or of impenitence, and estrangement from 
God, will, even should he become a Christian, feel the effects of 
his course all his days, and they will be likely to hang upon him 
as a depressing weight, in the decline of his age. Many a man, 
as old age comes on, finds himself sorely visited with the sins of" 
his youth, and he goes groaning under his burden to the end of 
his days. This is an argument for early piety, which should 
have great weight with the young. If they would pass grace- 
fully into mature life, and be prepared for a bright and happy 
old age, let them devote the morning of their days to the ser- 
vice of the Lord their God, and begin, while young, to walk in 
the path of duty and heaven. It is a truth of great practical 
importance, yet but little thought of by many, that each suc- 
cessive period of life gives character and coloring to that which 
is before it, and all have a bearing on that which is last. The 
child is the father of the man ; the youth, of maturer life, and 
old age receives its character and hues, as bright or gloomy, as 
happy or cheerless, from all that preceded it. He then, who 
would grow old gracefully, must begin right ; must look, while 
young, to the end of his course, and endeavor to make each suc- 
cessive step in his progress help him on toward the attainment 
of a peaceful, dignified and happy decline of life. He must so 
spend the present, that it shall brighten the future, and make 
the waning of his days happy, cheered with pleasant remem- 
brances of the past, and animated with bright hope of the 
future. 

25 



284 HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 

2. If we would grow old gracefully, we must possess true 
piety ; faith in Christ as our Saviour, and hope in God as our 
everlasting portion. This every man needs in the whole course 
of his life ; he needs it to guard him against the temptations 
and sins of the world ; he needs it to keep him from such habits 
and courses of living as will bring sorrow and gloom in the de- 
cline of life ; he needs it to sustain him under the afflictions 
and trials he will have to meet with in this state of probation 
and change ; he needs it to enable him to form such a charac- 
ter and to cultivate such virtues and graces as will minister to 
his usefulness in life, and to his comfort as he draws to the close 
of his course; as will inspire him with filial freedom in com- 
ing to God as his Father, and shed upon his path the light 
of hope full orbed and bright, when earthly things are taking 
leave of him and the scenes of a future world open before him. 
Indeed a man destitute of religion is, in no sense, qualified to 
pursue the journey of life in a right and graceful manner. He 
is like one going a journey, halt, lame and blind. He bears on 
his character a great and palpable defect, a deformity it may be 
called"; he is without hope and without God in the world ; go- 
»ing forward to the grave and eternity with no preparation for 
the scenes before him. How can such a man grow old grace- 
fully, or in a manner suited to the dignity and destiny of an in- 
telligent, immortal being.. 

And then, when he is old, how sad his condition, how gloomy 
his prospects ! He has done with the world ; it is leaving him, 
and he is leaving it ; his early friends have passed away ; he is, 
as it were, a stranger and alone in the world where he has 
lived so long ; and now bending under the burden of years with 
all his former sources of enjoyment cut off and eternity just at 
hand, he has no God to whom he can go as a Father, no 
Saviour in whom he can hope as his Saviour ; the dark valley 
is just before him ; he enters, but gives no sign. Indeed, I can 
conceive of no situation in this world more desolate and sad 
than that of an old man unblessed by religion, uncheered by 
hope, estranged from God and shut out from his presence and 
kingdom. No ; if we would spend life right and have peace 
and hope as we come to the close of it, we must have religion 
for our guide, our consolation, our joy and support. Nothing 
but this can meet the wants of man as he approaches the last 
stage of his earthly being. And this is all-sulficient. It takes 
us up in youth and bears us on in wisdom's ways, which are 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 285 

ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. It is our 
strength in temptation, our counsellor in difficulties, our guide 
in all the intricate windings of life, our solace in affliction, our 
aid in duty, our stay and support when heart and flesh are fail- 
ing us, and the infirmities and trials of age are thickening upon 
us. Religion sheds a beauty and a radiance over declining age 
which nothing else can impart to it. Hence it is said — The 
hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way 
of righteousness. And who does not admit the justness of this 
declaration ? What indeed is more comely in itself, or more 
interesting to behold than hoary age, sustained by living piety, 
marching on to its culminating point in death, calm, serene, 
cheerful, full of faith in God and hope of heaven? The 
Psalmist had this thought in mind where he says — The right- 
eous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a 
cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the 
Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall 
bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing.* 
I remark, 

3. If we would grow old gracefully, we must cultivate a love 
of nature. The works of creation never grow old. They are 
always fresh, always young, full of beauty and grandeur, full 
of God; and if we love to view and. to study them, they will 
be a source of the purest and most satisfying enjoyment ; always 
open and always accessible to us, and what is better, they will 
appear more and more beautiful and interesting the longer we 
live, and will thus renew our life and cheer our spirits as age 
comes on and deprives us of other sources of enjoyment. 

The time soon comes when the tradesman must give up his 
occupation and the merchant retire from business ; when the 
lawyer must lay aside his briefs, and the statesman his honors, 
and descend to private life. But the time never comes when 
the true lover of nature need give up the interest he feels in 
the works of creation around him. In youth, in middle age, in 
old age, he can survey the bright heavens above him, can look 
upon the hills and valleys, upon the mountains and rivers and 
seas; upon the trees, and flowers and birds, and upon the ten 
thousand objects of grandeur and beauty that surround him on 

_ *One of the finest sights in the world, says Mr. Jay in his IMorning and Eve- 
ning Exercises, p. 418, is a Christian at the end of a long course, with an un- 
sullied reputation, not only sincere, but without offense, and still alive to the 
things of God. His hair may be white, but his leaf is green, and his hoary 
head is a crown of glory, adorned with the fruits of righteousness. 



286 HOW TO GROAV OLD GRACEFULLY. 

every side, and derive ever new and ever refreshing pleasure 
from all; and never is a man more gracefully or more prop- 
erly employed, than when, as age comes on, he continues to 
hold converse with nature and seeks to renew his life by 
drinking at the ever new and refreshing streams that flow from 
God's most wise and beneficient works of creation and provi- 
dence. It is an exercise well suited to cheer, to animate and 
minister to his happiness as he goes on to finish his course, pre- 
paratory to his entering iiito the new heavens and new earth 
where he is to have his eternal home. 

4. Equally important is it, if we would grow old gracefully, 
that we continue to take an interest in the young, and in what- 
ever is moving around us, affecting the welfare of Society and 
the cause of Christ. It is a beautiful sight when the aged seek 
to keep their own blood warm and in lively circulation by 
bringing themselves in contact with the young, and taking an 
interest in whatever affects their happiness and well training 
for future life. The pleasant word, the cheerful smile, the 
mingling sometimes in their innocent sports and loving to hear 
their merry voices and see their gambols, all this costs the aged 
little, but it is of great use to the young ; and it has a reactive 
influence of the pleasantest character on the elder ones who 
perform these kind oflQces ; tending to keep off the sombre feel- 
ings of age and to prolong the cheerfulness and buoyancy of 
youthful days. 

It is said of Mr. Burke, that in the interim of Parliamen- 
tary duties, he used frequently to amuse himself by joining in 
the noisy sports of children, and that for the time, he was as 
merry a boy as any one of them ; and it was he, I believe, who 
made the 'remark, that a man, who is not sometimes a child, is 
always one. Nor is it a matter of small importance which we 
here notice. Age needs the rejuvinating influence of youth, 
and youth needs the counsel and guidance of age. Both should 
walk together, each imparting to each what neither can have 
alone ; and age, I am sure, is never more usefully or more 
gracefully employed, than when it feels a kind and tender in- 
terest in -the young; and it never fails to be repaid many fold, 
by having the evening of life made brighter and happier. 

For the same reason, persons, as they advance in age, should 
keep up an interest in the living moving world around them. 
They should keep their own hearts alive and warm, by keeping 
them in contact with that world that is so full of life and mo- 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 287 

tion. I do not mean by this, that men as they pass into age, 
should mingle in the rivalries of business, or in the strife of 
politics, as they may have done in their younger days. But let 
them not retire within themselves ; let them not feel that they 
have nothing more to do in the world, and give up all active 
interest in what respects the prosperity of religion and the 
welfare of society. This is just to hasten one's self on to an 
oyster state, and cloud the decline'of life in peevishness and 
gloom. There is a wide field left for the exercise of the social, 
benevolent and active virtues, when one is no longer able to 
engage in the harder labors and sterner conflicts of life. And 
every man, as he finds himself growing old, should seek some 
place in that field and give it the richest and best cultiva- 
tion he can. Elliot, the Apostle to the Indians, as he was 
called, when too old, longer to preach the gospel, busied him- 
self in instructing a poor negro, whom he w^as accustomed to 
visit, while at work in the field, for that purpose. This was a 
beautiful and graceful close of a long and useful life. And 
who, that has heard of the fact, has not admired the manner in 
which the late Dr. Cooley, of Granville, Mass., just gone to 
his rest in the 88th year of his age, spent the last few weeks 
or months of life ; visiting all the families of his charge, and 
conversing with them personally, as far as he could, and 
charging them all so to live as to meet him in heaven. In a 
similar way might many of the aged, who are now wearing out 
life heavily and gloomily, make it bright and cheerful, if they 
would but busy themselves in some method of doing good ; for 
instance, visiting the poor, or making garments for them, as 
Dorcas did, or instructing a class in a Sabbath school, and in 
other ways keep up an interest in the benevolent "tnovements 
of the day. The sun never goes down upon one who is benev- 
olently employed ; but it shines upon him all the way through 
life, keeps off" the fogs and clouds of age, illuminates the dark- 
ness of the grave and passes him on, full of youthful vigor and 
love in his soul, to a higher sphere of activity, and usefulness 
in heaven. I remark, 

5. There are some peculiar faults and tins incident to age 
against which we must be guarded if we would grow old grace- 
fully. The germs of these sins often lie far back in early life ; 
but time developes them, and by degrees they grow into habits 
and stand out as sad deformities of character as age comes on. 
The first of thes.e, which I mention, is peevishness ; a disposi- 
25* 



S 



288 HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 

tion to find fault, to murmur and complain. " Old men," says 
Cicero, " are peevish, and fretful and passionate and unmanage- 
able. They fancy they are neglected and despised, and every 
offense is irritating to them." This is a little severe, but it is 
too true ; and wherever the habit exists, it indicates a great de- 
fect of character and is as uncomfortable to him who indulges 
it, as it is to all around him. ^Nothing is more unlovely than 
peevishness sitting on the brow, or scowling from the looks, or 
venting itself in murmuring and fault-finding from the lips. 
Wherever this is seen, it may be taken as full evidence of an 
ill-disciplined temper, and of a selfish, unsubdued will. It is 
true, there are many things in old age that are trying to the 
feelings, — the passing away of health and strength, and the 
wonted sources of enjoyment, the coming on of lonely hours 
and being dropped out of the usual places of occupation and 
influence, — things of this kind are necessarily incident to old 
age, and when one begins to feel them, he should submit to 
them with cheerfulness as the appointment of providence, and 
not make himself and others around him miserable by fretting 
against what can not be helped. There is an old proverb, of 
much use to all men, but which w^ould be of special advantage 
for an old man to remember : " There are two things which a 
man ought not to fret about, what he can help and what he 
can not." 

Avarice, or covetousness is another of the faults which are 
peculiarly apt to appear in the aged. It seems strange that it 
should be so, but the fact is unquestionable. It is often seen 
that as a person advances in life, especially if he has not been 
in the habit of being generous in his early days, he becomes 
more and ftiore avaricious and parsimonious in his habits. If 
he can not accumulate as he once did, he can at least hold 
on upon what he has got, and so it comes to pass that when life 
is almost over, and he can need what he has but a little while 
longer, he keeps it the closer and is the more covetous and the 
less willing to give as the time draws near when he must leave 
all and go to render up an account of his stewardship. This 
is a melancholy chairacteristic where it appears in an old man 
or woman ; and it should be guarded against by forming early 
habits of liberality and resolutely carrying them forward into 
advancing years. To refer to Cicero again, he says in his 
treatise on old age — '' What avarice in an old man proposes to 
itself, I can not conceive ; — for can any thing be more absurd 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 289 

than, in proportion as less of our journey remains, to seek a 
greater supply of provisions ; to be the more greedy of gain as 
a man has the less time to use it." 

Another fault incident to age is jealousy of whatever is 
new, and a proneness to think that things are growing worse 
because they are different from what they were in former 
days.* This is a weakness to which the aged are much 
exposed, and against which, if they would not make themselves 
needlessly unhappy, they must carefully guard. The world 
moves on, but old people are apt to stand still, and it is not 
easy for them to believe that the world is moving for the better, 
if it leaves them behind or moves differently from what it did 
when they had an active part in its concerns. It is difiicult for 
them to feel that any changes in habits and customs, any devia- 
ations from former methods of doing things, are not* for the 
worse, the inlets of evil, and proofs of the growing degeneracy 
of the age. It is not true however that the former times were 
better than the present, as the aged are prone to imagine ; on 
the contrary the present are, on the whole, better than the past, 
and the next will be better still. The world is moving forward, 
slowly indeed, and sometimes in what seems to us a very zig 
zag course, still it is moving on toward a higher state of im- 
provement, and if we would grow old gracefully we must, as 
far as we are able, move along with it; at least we should dis- 
cipline our minds to the state of things around us, and not 
make ourselves unhappy, because things do not go just as we 

*Tliere is a fault just the opposite of the one mentioned as too apt to 
be found in the aged, and to which the young are especially exposed. It 
is that of undervaluing and discarding what is old and tried, and a too great 
eagerness to run after novelties. They are prone to have very.little respect 
for antiquity, or for manners and customs that have long been tried and 
found to work well. The fathers, they are apt to think, were a dull, un- 
knowing, fossilized class of people, and that wisdom and the elements of 
true progress are to be found only in themselves, or in the generation now 
on the stage. Hence their too great readiness, as a class, to innovate 
upon what has been long established and tested by experience, whether form- 
ularies of doctrine, or usages in worship, or modes of conducting Sabbath 
day services, and what not, while whatever is new and strange is apt to be 
seized upon as evidence of progress and marking a higher civihzation. This 
is certainly the tendency of the times. Young America, as he is called, is, 
indeed, a fast character ; little disposed to stop and thmk before he acts, easily 
carried away by what is new, and little inclined to take counsel from the past. 
It is a truth of great practical importance and should be carefully considered 
and acted upon by all, — whatever, whether in doctrine or practice or social and 
religions usages has long been tried and found to work well, is all the more valua- 
ble for its antiquity, and should not be changed without serious consideration ^ 
and never for novelties, untried and of doubtful utility. 



290 HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 

would have them, or just as they did when -we made our advent 
on the stage. 

I must mention one other fault of age to be guarded against, 
— an unwillingness to let go of the duties, responsibilities and 
honors of life, retire from the stage of action and be forgotten. 
This is indeed a hard lesson to learn ; but it is necessary to learn 
it if we would pass life pleasantly and close it gracefully and 
honorably. Our day of toil is appointed us of God ; and while 
the sun is up we should apply ourselves with all diligence to 
the doing of our allotted work ; but when the sun is going down 
and the shades of the evening are spreading around u^, we 
should observe the sign, prepare to lay down our task, with its 
attached responsibilities, and go to our rest ; or if time and 
strength yet remain, we should busy ourselves within doors, as I 
may say, doing such easy and useful things as are suited to our 
circumstances. This is the end of earth and we should be 
contented. Having served God and our generation accord- 
ing to his will, we should be willing to retire when the time 
comes, and give place to others, who, coming after us, will be 
better able to do what demands to be done than we should, 
even if life Avere preserved to us. In order to this, we should 
do well often to reflect that we are not of so much importance in 
the world, as we may sometimes imagine. Individually we are 
of little importance in the world. It will move on just as well 
without us when we are gone as with us. And since it is the 
appointment of providence that we should have our day and 
then retire, we should be willing to have it so, and retire cheer- 
fully and gracefully, soon to be forgotten among the living as 
if we had not been. 

" I shall sink, 

As sinks a stranger in the crowded streets 
Of busy London ; some short bustle caused, 
A few inquiries, and the crowds close in 
And all is forgotten. On my grassy grave 
The men of future time will careless tread, 
And read my name upon the sculptured stone ; 
Nor will sound, familiar to themsp-lves, 
Recall my vanished memory." 

6. Besides guarding against the faults that have now been 
specified, there are certain virtues which demand to be cul- 
tivated if we would grow old gracefully. Several of these I 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 291 

have already mentioned. I have said that we must early ad- 
mit to our minds the fact that we must grow old, and study to 
make the whole of life a preparation for declining age. I have 
said that religion, a living, active piety is necessary to fit us to 
perform the duties and meet the trials and changes of life in a 
right and becoming manner. I have said that if we would 
pass into age cheerfully and gracefully, we must cultivate a love 
of nature, feel an interest in the works of God and in the va- 
rious sources of enjoyment which he has so bountifully provi- 
ded for us. I have said also that we must continue, as age 
comes on, to feel an interest in the young, seek their improve- 
ment and their happiness, by conversation and intercourse with 
them, and as far as we can, keep our own hearts alive and ac- 
tive by keeping them in contact with the living, moving world 
around us. 

I now just note, without enlarging upon them, some other 
virtues of great importance to be cultivated if we would grow 
old gracefully. The first is patience, gentleness, kindness, 
to counteract the peevishness and petulence which are so apt to 
be the vices of age. The second is liberality in the use of the 
pecuniary means God has given us ; to counteract covetousness 
and parsimony which so often mar and dishonor the character 
of men in the decline of life. 

The third is a willingness that the world should move on, and 
that its honors and interests should pass out of our hands and 
be held and controlled by others; to counteract that jealousy of 
whatever is new, and that disposition to hold on upon what we 
have and to keep things as they are to which the aged are so 
peculiarly exposed. 

The fourth is cheerfulness; a buoyant, contented, happy 
spirit, to counteract the gloom and sadness that are apt to come 
over the aged and make the decline of life so uncomfortable 
and often miserable. 

The fifth is hopefulness as to the future progress of the church 
and the world, to counteract that unhappy proneness of age to 
forbode evil to come and to think that all things are going to 
ruin just because they go differently from what they once did. 

The sixth is a readiness to yield the field of labor and 
responsibihty to them that are younger, and retire and be for- 
gotten, if need be, to counteract a disposition to hold on and 
attempt to sustain duties and cares to which declining age is no 
longer competent. 



292 HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 

And yet one other virtue I must name, more important than 
any yet specified, to the aged, indeed the consummation and 
crown of all, — an hahitual and cheerful posture of readiness, to 
leave the world and go to be with Christ. There all the gra- 
ces, that have adorned and dignified a truly Christian life, cul- 
minate and find their reward. And truly no character appears 
so graceful and beautiful as that of an asjed disciple who, hav- 
ing served God and his generation according to his will, now 
waits in cheerful hope, the hour of his departure, and who, as 
lie reviews the past, surveys tlie present and looks to the future, 
can adopt as his own the language of the aged Paul, and say,— 
I am now ready to go, — I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
eousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at 
that day. It is Christianity and Christianity alone, experienced 
in the heart and acted out in the life, that holds out to man the 
hopes, the joys, the bright anticipations which are appropriate 
to age, and which adorn the evening of one's datys with grace 
and beauty. And not a few from the midst of us, from the 
circle of our own loved friends, have realized and illustrated 
this in their own happy experience. They loved and served 
God in their youth and in their age ; they passed through the 
various stages of life in the faith of Christ and in the hope of 
his glory, and we saw them, as they approached their end, calm, 
confiding and happy ; the graces of the gospel shining forth in 
their spirit and life and its hopes, cheering and sustaining them 
as they entered the dark valley ; we bade them farewell there ; 
but in hope of meeting them again in heaven, and there if 
faithful unto the end, we shall meet them to part no more for- 
ever. Such is the way to grow old gracefully, and such the 
happy termination of a life, devoted to God in youth and car- 
ried forward into age in the spirit of Christ and in consecration 
to his service and glory. 

The subject is of great practical importance to all present. 
To those in the morning of life, it addresses itself with special 
earnestness and tenderness. It meets you here, my young 
friends, on this first day and sabbath of a new year, and tells 
you how you may make life useful and happy, adorned with 
the beauties of holiness and crowned with immortal happiness 
in heaven. It is by remembering your Creator now in the 
days of your youth, committing yourselves to him in the fresh- 
ness of your age, and entering into his service in this the form- 



HOW TO GROW OLD GRACEFULLY. 293 

ative period of your life, that so, should you be preserved to 
old age, you may then have the beauty of the Lord your God 
shining upon you, be cheered with his presence and favor in 
the closing scene, and go to be clothed with immortal youth 
and vigor in heaven. It is difficult, I am aware, to persuade 
the young to fix their thoughts on a distant old age. The in- 
tervening time seems so long that they can hardly measure it. 
But it will rapidly fly away, and ere you are aware, you will be 
swept forward into middle life and then onward to declining age. 
Be wise then in this spring season of your being, and plant in 
the mellow, receptive soil within, the seeds of virtue, intelligence 
and goodness, of piety and devotion to God your Creator and 
Redeemer, which will spring up and grow as life passes away, 
adorning your age with grace and beauty and preparing you to 
be gathered to your grave as a shock of corn fully ripe in its 
season. 

The subject addresses itself also to the middle aged present. 
It asks you, my friends, how you have spent that portion of 
life which has already passed over you. Have you spent it 
gracefully, rightly, in the love and service of God, and in the 
cultivation of those virtues which will be an ornament to your 
old age and fit you to meet the closing scene of life in peace 
and hope? Are you dressing your souls out in that garb, for- 
ming and putting on those traits of character which you would 
b*e willing to wear in old age and carry with you into eternity? 
Kaised from the death of sin, are you alive unto God, subdued 
to his authority and seeking to be conformed to his will and 
devoted to his glory? Or is the reverse of this true of many 
in the meridian of life whom I now address — dead in sin, far 
from God and living only to self and the world ? Remember, 
my friends, that the life you now live is fixing your future life 
and deciding the character of your old age. You are now 
putting on what in all probability will become the dying dress 
of your souls ; your dispositions, your habits, your manner of 
life, the dress in which you will pass into eternity and go to 
appear before God. 

To the aged, my compeers in life, our subject makes its ap- 
peal. We can not now, my friends, well speak of growing old 
gracefully. We are already old, and our character whatever it 
be, is not likely to change essentially in any of its governing 
elements. What is that character? Was it in its process of 
formation imbued with the love of God, animated with the faith 
of Christ and cheered with the hope of heaven; and as we 



294 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

passed on our way, were these virtues manifested in our life 
and did they adorn our character so that it could be said of us, 
we were growing old gracefully, in a manner suited to honor 
religion and mark us in the eyes of the world, friends of Christ 
and heirs of heaven ? And how is it with us now ? Are we 
waiting in patience, in faith and hope, for the time of our de- 
parture, ready to go whenever God shall call us to enter into 
his rest ? Let us realize that at our time of life, we shall not 
wait long. The summons will soon come, and we shall pass 
away. O that it might be true of all the aged whom I now 
address, and of all present, that they shall come to their grave, 
like as a shock of corn cometh fully ripe in their season. 



SERMON XXYII. 

THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES OVER 
ALL THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 

Deuteronomy xxxii: 31. Their rock is not as our Rock, our enemies them- 
selves being judges. 

Moses here designates Jehovah, the God of Israel, as a rock, 
to represent his eternal sufficiency as a foundation of safety 
and happiness to his people. And he declares that the gods of 
the heathen nations, whom he calls their rock, can not bear 
comparison with Jehovah, the Rock of Israel. For proof of 
this he appeals to the judgment of those who, having cast off 
the worship and service of the only true God, had put their 
trust in gods of their own invention, and he submits to their de- 
cision the question as to the infinite superiority of Jehovah as 
a foundation of trust and blessedness over all that they could 
hope from their false divinities. Their rock is not as our Rock, 
our enemies themselves being judges. I wish to transfer this 



OVER ALL THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 295 

'declaration to our own circumstances, and this I am certainly- 
authorized to do, since the God whom we worship is the God 
whom Moses commends as the Rock of Israel, and his superi- 
ority to every other rock of confidence can not but be conceded, 
even by those who turn from him as the source of happiness 
and choose the world as their portion. The sentiment then 
suggested by the text is this ; — -those who set their hope in God 
as the rock of their salvation and the source of their happiness, 
have resources infinitely superior to all that are or can be pos- 
sessed by men of the world. 

In illustratinGf this sentiment, I wish to keeo in view the com- 
parison contained in our text, and shall draw frequent illustra- 
tions from the concessions which worldly, irreligious men, have 
been obliged to make to the superior resources of such as have 
chosen the God of Israel as their Rock and Refuge. 

1. This superiority appears in the character of the God 
whom they love and serve. Here I would remark, in passing, 
that every man has a god — some object to which he gives his 
supreme affection, and on which he relies for happiness. And 
this, whatever it be, is his god. Whether it be Jehovah or an 
idol, the true God or an object of worldly interest and pleasure, 
if it hold the first place in his heart, and is looked to as the 
<jhief source of happiness, it is to him a god; it is his god. 

Now the true Christian, the sincerely religious man, is one 
who has chosen the God of Israel as the rock of his confidence, 
the source of his purest joys and brightest hopes. Him he 
loves, him he confides in and adores, as alone worthy of his su- 
preme affection, homage and service. And what is the charac- 
ter of this Jehovah, the Christian's rock and portion? Infinite 
and eternal in his being and perfections, the same yesterday, to- 
day and for ever, he has proclaimed himself the Lord, the Lord 
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in 
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving in- 
iquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear 
the guilty. This great and glorious Being, Creator, Preserver, 
Benefactor, Ruler and Judge of the world, is the Christian's 
Rock, his Father, his everlasting Friend and Portion. His work 
is perfect; all his ways are judgment; a God of truth, without 
iniquity, just and right is he. On this rock the Christian rests, 
and he is safe. The eternal God is his refuge and strength, a 
very present help in trouble. He is his reconciled Father in 
Christ, and to him it is his high privilege to resort in every time 
26 



\ 



296 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

of need. Safe beneath the covert of this rock nothing can harm 
him. He is encircled in the everlasting arras; he is accepted 
in the Beloved; his fellowship is with the Father and with his 
Son Jesus Christ,* through whom he is pardoned and sealed an 
heir of heaven. The spirit of adoption is shed abroad in his 
heart, whereby he draws near to God in filial affection, and 
beholding his glory is changed into the same image from glory 
to glory, by the spirit of the Lord. He has all tilings in God, 
and to him is given the sure word of promise that all things 
shall work together for his good, and that the infinite, eternal 
Being whom he loves and trusts and has chosen as his portion, 
will never leave nor forsake him, neither in this world nor in 
that which is to come. This is the Ciiristian's rock. 

What now is the rock of the worldly, irreligious man? what 
the object of his supreme afiTection and confidence, the chief 
ground of his trust for happiness ? It is not Jehovah, the God 
of Israel. Him he discards and rejects as his Sovereign and 
King. He has no love to his character and no delight in his 
service, and in no proper sense can it be said that Jehovah, the 
true God, is his rock. What then is it ? We know what it is 
in respect to the heathen. They have lords many and gods 
many, all vanity and a lie, that can not profit them in a time of 
need. But what is the rock of impenitent, irreligious men, 
who live under the light of the gospel — what the god of their 
confidence and hope ? They renounce the idols of heathenism, 
and disown the God of the Bible in the sense that they look 
not to him as their portion ; and yet they must have a god, a 
something in which they confide as their rock, and on which 
they rely for their chief happiness. What is it? Let me ask 
the irreligious, the unconverted of my hearers, what it is. You 
will not say that you are atheists ; you abhor the divinities of 
paganism; and Israel's God, yourselves being judges, is not 
your God, is not the rock of your confidence. Will you say 
then what is your god, and what your rock ? I can think of 
no answer to this question except it be, that the world is your 
God ; its riches, its honors, its pleasures, the rock of your reli- 
ance. It is just here, within the range of created objects that 
you concentrate your affections, build your hopes, pay your 
homage and rely for happiness. Among these objects you have 
set up your divinity, and there you have placed the foundation 
of your dependence. Let these objects be removed, and you 
would be constrained to cry out like Micah of old, when his 



OVER ALL THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 297 

idols were stolen — ye have taken away the gods which I have 
made, and what have I more ? I surely do not exaggerate in 
this statement. For when Jehovah, the Christian's God, is re- 
jected, and the foundation laid in him for happiness is refused, the 
best that can be said of any man is, that the world is his god, 
the rock of his confidence and hope. 

Here then we challenge the men of the world, and say in 
the language of our text — their rock is not as our rock, our en- 
emies themselves being judges. For what comparison is there 
between the creature and the Creator ; between the things which 
God has made and him the Maker? In the one case, that is 
chosen as a god, is relied upon as a rock, which is vain, unsat- 
isfying, transient; in the other. He is chosen who is the infinite 
Jehovah, the eternal I am, the author of all being, and the 
source of all blessedness. The Christian who rests his hope on 
the Eock of Ages has ever near to him a secure retreat, a di- 
vine abode; the infinite Father is his refuge, and all his inter- 
ests are safe. On the other hand, the man of the world is com- 
pelled to see his rock continually growing old, crumbling away 
under the hand of time ; soon it must be gone, and with it must 
perish all his hopes for ever. We place the two side by side in 
fair comparison before you, and leave each one to judge on 
which side the advantage lies. 

2. The superiority of the Christian's resources appears in 
the certainty which attends the faith he holds. Here again we 
may take up the language of the text, and say of the whole 
class of worldly, irreligious men — their rock is not as our rock. 
"W hat of faith they have is miserably weak, deficient and hesi- 
tating. It is merely speculative and notional, having no place 
in the heart and diffusing no light or comfort through the soul, 
and consequently it never serves them for any good end in the 
day of trial. The faith of wicked men, like the faith of devils, 
may make them fear and tremble, but it is never a source of 
real peace and hope. And if they are deistical, or skeptical, as 
many of them are — for unbelief, skepticism, and doubt, are nat- 
ural to the unrenewed heart — then are they in profound dark- 
ness in respect to many of the greatest and most important 
truths connected with our immortal well-being. They are like 
the waves of the sea, driven about by every wind of doctrine, 
and can find no rest to their souls. Where is God my Maker; 
what is he, and how may I, a needy, perishing sinner, obtain 
his pardon and favor; what is the design of my present state of 



298 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

being; what is the soul; what is death, and what the scenes that 
await me in the state beyond the grave? — these are questions'of 
the deepest moment, but the irrehgious and the skeptical know 
not how to answer them. They have no rock on which to rest 
their faith; no light to guide them through the dark, bewildering 
scenes of this world to a place of rest and hope. The best an- 
swer they can give is only conjecture, cold, dreamy speculation ; 
and this is a poor foundation on which to rest, amid the agita- 
tions of earth and time, or m the near approach of death and 
eternity. How many thousands of wicked men have made this 
confession in the hour of their extremity ! Voltaire and Paine 
died with hell anticipaled. Hobbes was compelled to speak of 
death as a leap in the dark ; and multitudes who have not gone 
all lengths with them in infidelity, but have been moral and re- 
spectable in character, yet unconverted and worldly in heart 
and habit, have been constrained to confess, when brought into 
trying circumstances, that they have no rock of faith to stand 
upon ; no clear and settled views of God and truth on which 
they could rest for comfort and hope. The whole impenitent; 
world is full of concessions of this kind. We read them in all 
history; they come to us in notes of lamentation and wo, from 
dying beds and scenes of sorrow all over the earth — no rock of 
faith for our support, no foundation of hope for our souls. 

Turn now to the Christian's ground of confidence, and how 
immense its superiority over all that the world can boast. The 
rock of his faith is immovable. It is the sure testimony of 
God his Maker. This testimony gives certainty to his faith ; it 
sheds the clear, full light of heaven on all the great truths whicb 
relate to God, the soul, salvation, and the scenes of the future 
world. When such questions as were just now referred to are 
asked — where is God my Maker, what is he, how can man be 
just with God, how may I find him my friend and portion, and 
how be prepared to dwell in his presence hereafter — the Chris- 
tian is at no loss for an answer. His Father in heaven has 
spoken on all these great questions; they are decided on testi- 
mony that can never be shaken ; and the true Christian receives 
that testimony, not merely because he reads it in the Bible, 
though that is a good reason, but because he has felt it in his 
heart. The truths to which it relates have wrought a divine 
change in the feelings and views of the inner man; they have 
made him a new creature in Christ; have brought light, and 
peace, and hope to the soul; and now with a faith thus settled 



OVER ALL THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 299 

in great everlasting truths, he can challenge the whole world 
and say with confidence — your rock is not as my rock. I stand 
upon a foundation that can never be moved. The God of all 
the earth in, my God and portion. He has revealed himself 
to me as my Father in Christ, the Mediator; he blots out all 
my sins for the sake of him who died for me. I look to the 
close of life and the scenes of another world with faith and 
hope; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded he 
will keep that which I have committed to him against that day. 
Millions now in glory have uttered this language in the fullness 
and joy of believing hearts since it first burst from the lips of 
Paul; and millions more, in the faith of the sentiments which 
it breathes, are preparing to go and join them in the world of 
light. Truly then may we say of infidels and skeptics, and un- 
converted, irreligious men of every name — their rock is not 
our rock, our enemies themselves being judges. 

Consider, 

3. The superiority of the Christian's resources in regard to 
happiness. In all the ordinary blessings of life he is entitled 
to share, equally at least, with other men. He is forbidden no 
innocent enjoyment, is deprived of no good which is truly con- 
ducive to his happiness. The treasures of literature and sci- 
ence; the works of nature and of art; the joys of friendship 
and the comforts of social intercourse ; the bright heavens over 
him ; the pure, free air around him, and the firm, solid earth he 
treads upon, with all its countless objects of beauty and of 
grandeur — all these tlie Christian has a right to enjoy and does 
enjoy, to say the least, with as much satisfaction and delight as 
they can boast of who have no hope in God. But more than 
this; the Christian's enjoyment in the objects just referred to is 
greatly enhanced by the fact that they are associated in his 
mind with the wisdom and goodness of God, with the mercy 
and love of his Father in heaven. All the ffood thinofs of life 
he regards as the expressions of his kindness, and pledges of 
higher good reserved for him hereafter. Having God as his 
rock and portion he acquires a new property and a new interest 
in all he sees and enjoys. 

'* His are the mountains, and the valleys his, 
And the resplendent rivers, — his to enjoy 
With a propriety that" none can feel, 
But who with filial confidence inspired, 
Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye 
And smiling say, mv Father made them all." 
26* 



300 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

But over and above all this ; he who has made God his rock 
and refuge has enjoyments still purer and nobler, with which 
a stranger never intermeddles. They are spiritual enjoy- 
ments, foretastes of the felicities of heaven, sent down from 
his Father above to cheer and animate him on his way to the 
celestial city. He has a sweet sense of pardon and reconcilia- 
tion to God through Christ his Redeemer; a hope full of 
immortality ; pleasant seasons of communion with his heavenly 
Father, with delightful anticipations of purer and more perfect 
communion in the world above. And when dark days come, 
and come they will to all, and disappointments and troubles 
press on the spirit, he who has set his hope in God has conso- 
lations and supports altogether his own. He then finds God a 
very present help. He leans upon his arm ; he is sustained 
and comforted by his presence, and he goes on his way rejoic- 
ing — In God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my 
strength and my refuge is in God ; I shall not be greatly moved ; 
the bright sun shines clear above these clouds that now envelop 
my path ; soon they shall break away, and I shall walk in the 
light of his countenance, who is my rock and my salvation ; 
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, 
and these light afilictions, which are but for a moment, shall 
work for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 
This has been the song in the house of their pilgrimage 
of countless multitudes now in the world of glory. To him 
whose rock is the eternal God, rivers of water break out in dry 
places. He has bread to eat that others know not of. His is a 
happiness which satisfies the longing heart and gives rest to the 
burdened spirit. It is pure, elevated, everlasting. Like a per- 
ennial fountain it fails not by years ; it is not exhausted or di- 
niinished by the number who drink of it. It does not tire in 
the enjoyment; it does not leave us in sickness; it does not for- 
sake us in death. That happiness goes with us into all lands 
and all worlds, and becomes brighter and purer as earthly joys 
fade away and the hour approaches when we must leave 
the world, and go hence to be here no more. 

What now are the resources of worldly irreligious men, what 
the rock of their confidence in regard to happiness? May we 
not again challenge them and say with confidence, — their rock 
is not as our rock ? I am not about to afiirm that worldly men 
find no happiness in their state of sin and estrangement from 
God. This were to contradict all experience. We know that 



OVER ALL THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 301 

divine providence does pour much good into their cup, and 
many blessings does God scatter along their path of life to re- 
mind them of his goodness and bring them to repentance. Still 
it may be asked, and surely but one answer can be given; is 
their rock as our rock? Is their happiness as pure, as satisfy- 
ing, as enduring, as ennobling as that of the men whose hope 
is in Jehovah, whose rock is the God of Israel? "Where shall 
we look for their happiness? Shall we search for it in wealth, 
in rank, in station ? Shall we seek it in the halls of splendor^ 
in the circles of gayety and fashion, or in the places of revelry 
and mirth and worldly amusements? From all these situations 
and scenes, in which worldly men are wont to seek happiness, 
we have known them, in great numbers, turn away in disap- 
pointment and disgust, confessing that the world in its fairest 
and most seductive form could never afford them the happiness 
they longed for. Did time permit I might cite the testimony 
of large numbers of irreligious men, as well situated in their 
day as any other, to derive happiness from the world, all declar- 
ing their bitter disappointment, and the utter insufficiency and 
emptiness of the world viewed in relation to the wants of the 
soul. Such was the confession of Lord Chesterfield, Lord By- 
ron, Colonel Gardner, Charles V., Goethe, Madam Malabran, 
and others, and the catalogue might be indefinitely extended. 

Said Lord Chesterfield, as he drew near the close of life, " I 
have run the silly rounds of business and pleasure, and have 
done with them all. When I reflect on what I have seen, what 
I have heard, and what I have done, I can hardly persuade 
myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle and pleasure 
of the world has any reality, but I look upon it as one of those 
j-omantic dreams which opium occasions, and do by no means 
desire to repeat the dose for the sake of the dream. Shall I 
tell you that I bear this melancholy situation with the sustain- 
ing constancy and resignation which others speak of? No; I 
bear it because I must bear it, whether I will or no. I think 
of nothing but killing time now it has become my enemy, and 
my resolution is to sleep in the carriage during the rest of the 
journey." This is the confession of a man than whom none 
knew the world better than he, and none shared more largely 
in its pleasures, its honors and smiles. Yet how poor, how 
wretched and hopeless he felt himself to be, as he drew near 
the end of his course and saw only death and the grave before 
him, compared with the resigned and cheerful 'Christian who 



302 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

relies for happiness on God, and looks, with bright hope, to 
heaven as his home. 

Many naore examples like those just referred to might be 
named, but it is not necessary. From Cain, the first wanderer 
from God, to the last sinner who has taken his departure into 
eternity, the evidence has been accumulating to establish the 
fact that those who forsake God and seek their happiness in the 
world, can not be happy. God has said they can not, and all ex- 
perience shows it to be true. The wicked, even in their best 
estate, are like the troubled sea which can not rest, whose waters 
cast up mire and dirt. And when trials come, and sorrows 
weigh down the spirit, their resources utterly fail them ; their 
rock sinks beneath them and they have nothing on which the 
soul can rest. Little as irreligious men are disposed to regard 
the Christian's rock, in the time of health and prosperity, they 
always feel their need of it in days of affliction and trial. In 
such circumstances they make a sorry figure. They have no 
comfort themselves and they can give none to others. Mr. 
Hume had succeeded in shaking the faith of his mother, by in- 
fusing into her mind his own skeptical sentiments. In a time 
of deep affliction she said to him, " My son, you have taken 
away my religion, and now tell me something to comfort me." 
But no comfort could he give, and none could she receive. 

How instructive, too, is the fact related of Col. Ethan Allen, 
of revolutionary memory. He was a skeptic, a rejecter of the 
Bible. On being asked by a dying daughter, whom he ten- 
derly loved, whether she should believe what her pious mother 
had taught her, or believe him, — he replied with tears, " my 
daughter, believe what your mother taught you.^' how plain 
and how truthful the language of our text — Their rock is noj 
as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges. I add, 

4. There is yet another situation in which the superiority of 
the Christian's rock appears still more conspicuous. I refer to 
the hour of death. That has been called an honest hour. It 
tries a man's principles ; it tests the foundation of his hope, the 
rock on which he rests for salvation. And has the rock of Is- 
rael ever failed any one who had built his hopes thereon, in 
that last extremity? Was it ever known that a Christian re- 
gretted in the dying hour, that he had put his trust in the Sav- 
iour? Did a departing believer ever cast away his hope in 
Christ, and call for the world to come in to supply his wants, 
because the rock of his confidence had failed him ? No, the 



OVER ALL THAT MEN OF THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 303^ 

history of the world furnishes no example of this kind. From 
Abel, the first, to the last saint who has ascended to heaven, the 
testimony is one and invariable, — it is safe resting our hope on 
the rock of ages; and no one who does this ever has been or 
shall be disappointed. It would be easy to fill a long catalogue 
with the names of those who have died in the Lord, joyfully 
trusting in the rock of Israel and triumphing over death. But 
time will not permit. Take the language of one as expressing 
substantially the experience of all. My flesh and my heart 
faileth; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion 
forever. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I 
shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. I know whom 
I have • believed. For me to die is gain. O death, where is 
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unta 
God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Here, again, standing near to death and eternity, we challenge 
the men of the world, and say with an assurance, which ex- 
cludes all doubt, — their rock is not as our rock. What indeed 
remains to 'support and comfort men of the world, irreligious, 
unconverted men, in the dying hour? Their earthly course is 
run; their earthly possessions and joys are fled, and they are 
about to launch away to appear in their naked essence in the 
presence of their God and Judge. " Behind them is a life of sin; 
within them an accusing conscience; before them an angry 
judge and a fearful condemnation at his bar." Here the rock on 
which they have attempted to maintain themselves sinks be- 
neath them, and they are left to float amid angry waves, with 
none to help or to save them. What multitudes of impenitent 
men, when their thoughts have been drawn seriously to their 
latter end, have exclaimed in the language of the prophet who 
loved the wages of unrighteousness — let me die the death of 
the righteous and let my last end be like his. And what mul- 
titudes of this class of men have, in the dying hour, found all 
their vain confidence fail them, and have cried out in despair 
for that help from God which they despised in the days of their 
health and prosperity ? The testimonies on this point are as 
numerous as they are decisive and distressing; and how affect- 
ingly do such testimonies, coming to us, as they do from the 
despairing sighs and groans of sinners passing into eternity, 
illustrate and confirm the truth declared in our text, — their 
rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges. 



304 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

In a brief conclusion, I am led to remark, 

'1. That no man disbelieves or neglects the religion of the 
Bible from the convictions of his reason. That religion, what 
is it, what does it teach, what does it do? It points poor sin- 
ful, dying man to a rock of confidence and hope, that can never 
fail him, even the ever blessed God. It reveals to our faith 
great and precious truths, involving the dearest interests of the 
soul for time and eternity; and it does this with a clearness of 
light and fulness of evidence which throw into obscurity and 
worthlessness all the speculations of mere reason. It opens 
sources of happiness, of joy in God and peace and hope, amid 
the trials and sorrows of life, which infinitely surpass all that 
the world can promise or afford. It disarms death of its ter- 
rors, scatters the darkness of the grave, brings life and immor- 
tality to light, and secures to the believer in Jesus peace with 
God, and eternal hfe in heaven. It has done all this, and 
is now doing it for countless millions of our fellow men, and its 
triumphs will not be ended till a multitude more, which no man 
can number, shall be gathered home to the world of glory. 
And is there any substitute for this religion? — any rock firmer 
or better than that which it reveals, on which to rest our 
immortal hopes r Can any man in the exercise of reason be an 
enemy of this religion, or from the convictions of his under- 
standing reject or neglect it? No; aversion to the rock of 
Israel, rejection of the religion of the Bible is from another, 
and a far different source. It has its origin in a wrong state of 
heart, in hatred of truth and holiness, of God and duty, as 
all its developments and effects abundantly prove. It is said 
that Lord Lyttleton, who afterwards wrote a masterly book on 
the conversion of Paul, as proving the truth of the gospel, be- 
longed in his younger days to a club of infidels, and in one of 
their merry meetings was pitched upon to burn the Bible. Tak- 
ing the volume in his hand, he approached the hearth, but upon 
second thought, returned and placed it on the stand; on being 
asked why he did not throw it into the fire, he made this sensi- 
ble reply, " We will not burn this book until we can get a bet- 
ter." Verily, their rock is not as our rock, our enemies them- 
selves being judges. 

2. The concessions which irreligious men are obliged to make 
to the superior excellence of the Christian's rock, convict them 
of great sin and guilt for neglecting to build on that rock them- 
selves. What these concessions are has briefly been stated in 



OVER ALL THAT MEN OP THE WORLD CAN BOAST. 305 

this discourse, and they need not be repeated here. You, my 
impenitent hearers, know what they are, and often have you 
been constrained to make them, if not in word, yet in thought 
and feehng, and all will be reality, solemn reality, when you 
pass into another world. You know in your conscience that the 
Christian's God, the God of the Bible, is worthy of supreme 
love and confidence; that he is a rock on which the soul can 
rest its dearest hopes with perfect security. You know that the 
great truths of the gospel are just such as you need for your 
enlightenment and salvation, and that both on the ground of 
their evidence and excellence, they demand your unhesitating 
faith and obedience. You know too, that you stand in the 
greatest need of a better and more enduring happiness than 
this world can afford, even a happiness derived from the friend- 
ship of God and a well grounded hope of everlasting life. 
You know, in fine, that while you must soon die and go to the 
judgment, nothing can prepare you to die in peace and appear 
before your judge with acceptance, but a saving interest in the 
Lord Jesus Christ as the rock of your confidence and trust. 
These things you concede, — concede both their truth and im- 
portance. Can you then, let me ask, neglect them or treat 
them with indifference, without violating the plainest dictates, 
both of conscience and reason, and being convicted before God 
of great sin? Need you not a rock of salvation on which to 
rest your immortal hopes? Need you not the light of God's 
truth to guide you through the intricate mazes of this dark 
world ; need you not his friendship and love to make you happy ; 
his presence to sustain and comfort you in death, and his grace 
to pardon, accept and bless you on your trial at the last day, 
and raise you to eternal happiness in his kingdom? Is there 
one of you who does not need the blessings here indicated? 
No ; you concede your need of them, and you know you must 
be miserable without them; and yet how many of you neglect 
them, neglect all this boundless good offered you in the gospel, 
and practically treat it as if it were of no value? Fellow im- 
mortal, there must be an end of this, an end of this soon or 
you are lost forever. No man can slight the rock of Israel, 
the eternal Jehovah, without in the end, bringing upon himself 
his righteous displeasure. Fellow man; you can never be 
happy without God as your portion; you can never find any 
solid ground of peace and blessedness but in him. You may 
be false to your Maker, but he will be true to his word and true 



506 THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCES 

to the laws he has ordained, and under which you live and are 
to live forever. In the chapter, which contains our text, many- 
things are declared by him, which should make those fear and 
tremble who forsake the God that made them, and lightly 
esteem the rock of salvation. To me belongeth vengeance and 
recompense; their foot shall slide in due time; for the day of 
their calamity is at- hand, and the things that shall come upon 
■them make haste. I kill and I make alive ; I wound and I 
heal ; neither is there any one that can deliver out of my hand. 
Por I lift my hand to heaven and say, I live forever. If I 
whet my glittering sword and my hand take hold on judgment, 
I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and reward them that 
hate me. 

Behold then, fellow immortal, the God with whom you have 
to do, — a God of justice and truth, as well as of goodness and 
mercy. He is revealed to you as a rock, a rock of confidence and 
hope, of peace and salvation. Receive him in this character; 
cast yourselves wholly, humbly, confidingly on him, and make 
him your rock indeed, your fortress, your high tower. Do 
this, and you are made forever. But neglect this, and death 
will come upon you, as indeed he is, the king of terrors, and 
eternity will open with nought before you but the dismal pros- 
pect of everlasting despair. 

3. In the light of this subject, how manifestly true is the 
declaration of the Apostle — godliness is profitable unto all 
things — having promise of the life that now is, and of that 
which is to come. What does it do, or rather, what does it not 
do, for him who is truly the .subject of it? It brings him to 
God as his rock, his everlasting friend and portion. It secures 
for him the pardon of sin and acceptance in Christ as his Sav- 
iour. It surrounds him with the divine presence and favor in 
all the journey of life ; gives him a right and title to the prom- 
ises of God for his consolation and support amid the trials of 
the way; qualifies him for a larger and purer enjoyment of all 
the good things of the world; lightens the burdens and softens 
the trials of his earthly pilgrimage; inspires him with divine 
peace and hope in death, and raises him to immortal blessed- 
ness in heaven. These are the fruits of true godliness, or of 
that love for and trust in God which are inspired in the bosom, 
when he is chosen as the soul's everlasting rock. And is there 
any earthly good that can be compared with them? Whose 
happiness is so pure, so enduring, so satisfying, as his who can 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 307 

say, on good ground, — The Lord is my rock and my fortress! 
Who is a rock save our God ? Let all then who truly trust in 
God renew their confidence, and rejoice in 'him as their ever- 
lasting friend and portion. There is in him all that you need 
for the soul and the body ; for time and eternity. Hear him, 
in every emergency, in- every trial, speaking to you as a kind 
Father, — fear not, for I am thy God ; I will strengthen thee ; 
yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right 
hand of my power. With the cheering sound of these words 
in your ear, go on to finish your course with joy and hope, and 
when it is ended spread the pinions of faith and love, and 
■ascend to heaven as your everlasting home. 



SERMON XXYIII. 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 

Isaiah xxviii: 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion 
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foun- 
dation; he that believeth shall not make haste. 

In illustrating this beautiful and most instructive passage of 
Scripture I shall show, 

I. That sinful, dying man, needs a foundation on which he 
may securely rest his immortal hopes. 

II. Such a foundation is laid for him in Zion. And, 

III. It is the duty and privilege of all to build their hopes 
on this foundation without delay. 

I. On the first topic I need dwell but a moment. You have 
only to look within to study your own nature and destiny as im- 
mortal and accountable, to be convinced that you need a founda- 
tion better than this world can afford you, on which to rest the 
interests of your immortality. This is a point, the evidence of 
27 



308 THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 

which every man carries in his own bosom. You survey your 
physical frame; it is weak, frail, perishable. You contemplate 
the inner spirit; it was made in the image of God, is destined 
to survive the dissolution of the body and live for ever. You 
consider your relations to God, and the duties which you owe 
to him as your Creator, Preserver, Sovereign Ruler and final 
Judge ; and the conviction is irresistible that you are a sinner 
in his sight, a transgressor of his law, and justly liable to fall 
under its fearful penalty. You look forward, and in a few days 
you know you must die, and go to appear before your Judge, to 
give an account of the deeds done in the body, and receive a 
sentence from the final tribunal which will decide your condition 
for eternity. 

Thus situated, a frail, dependent, guilty creature, with eternity 
and the judgment before you, does not every feeling of your 
nature, every dictate of reason and conscience testify that you 
need a foundation on which you may securely stand amid the 
changes of time and the solemn scenes of the eternity just be- 
fore you ? When I speak of a foundation in this connection, I 
mean by it that which can support you under the trials and sor- 
rows of life, which can give you peace of mind and hope as 
you draw towards the close of your earthly course, and think of 
the dread realities of that invisible world in which you are so 
soon to be placed. And I ask, is there one among you who does 
not need such a foundation, such a ground of pardon, peace and 
hope, as you pass on through life to meet the untried scenes of 
an eternal state ? I enter into no argument on this point ; I 
simply appeal to your observation of what is passing around 
you and is felt within you, to the deep conscious wants of your 
immortal nature. And I am certain, that in making this appeal, 
I gain the immediate, unhesitating assent of every one of my 
hearers to the truth of the sentiment, that fallen, guilty man 
needs a foundation on which he can securely rest his immortal 
hopes. This assent may, indeed, exert no decisive influence 
over your feelings and conduct; it may be counteracted by 
other sentiments which you hold, or float in your mind as a mere 
speculation, with no practical result in your life ; still it is there, 
and you can not wholly get rid of it. The fact that you are a 
creature of God, responsible at his bar for your conduct, and 
destined to an eternal existence in the state beyond the grave, 
is too deeply fixed in the convictions of the inner man to be 
easily excluded or forgotten ; and while this fact retains a place 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 309 

in your memory, while you admit the belief that there is a God 
who reigns over you, and that you are an accountable subject of 
his government, the feeling will often steal over the mind and 
press with sadness on the spirit, that you need something for 
your support which the world can not afford you ; something 
that shall speak peace to a disquieted conscience, sustain and 
comfort you amid the dark passages of life, hold you up in the 
trying hour of death, and enable you to look up to God as your 
everlasting friend and portion when you come near the closing 
scene and think of meeting him in judgment on the great day 
of account. No human being who has any knowledge of God 
and a future state, or who ever reflects on his condition and 
prospects as immortal and accountable, can possibly avoid the 
conviction of which I here speak. Be he young or old; be he 
speculative believer or infidel; be his character and condition 
in life what they may; this feeling will abide with him, and 
often agitate and disturb the peace of the inner man, even amid 
general carelessness and neglect of the soul— I am a dependent 
creature of God, needy, guilty, lost; he holds my destiny in 
his hands; if he smiles I live, if he frowns I die; and in pros- 
pect of passing through death and the grave to go and meet 
him in judgment, my spirit sinks within me, and I look around 
with anxious mind to find some foundation which can give me 
repose and assure my hopes, as I cast forward my views to the 
scenes of that boundless state of being which lies before me. 
This feeling, I say, this conviction of the necessity of a founda- 
tion of hope for eternity, is common to all human beings, and 
it never ceases from the mind, except as a consequence of ex- 
treme stupidity, or of desperate wickedness. Fallen man needs 
a foundation on which he can safely rest his immortal hopes. 

II. My second proposition is, that such a foundation is laid 
for him in Zion. Hear our text— Behold I lay in Zion for a 
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure 
foundation. This is figurative language. But the reference, 
no doubt, is to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the 
foundation, the corner-stone referred to in the text, as is evident 
from the words of the Apostle Peter. Wherefore also it is con- 
tained in the Scripture; behold I lay in Zion a chief corner- 
stone, elect, precious; and he that beheveth on him shall not be 
confounded. In contemplating the foundation thus spoken of 
in our text, we are pointed directly to Christ; and several qual- 



310 THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 

ifications are suggested as belonging to him, viewed as a founda- 
tion, which claim our special attention. 

1. A stone — indicating the solidity and durableness of that 
on which we are invited to rest our immortal interests. In 
rearing a building of any importance, we deem it essential that 
the foundation be laid in the firmest and most enduring materi- 
als. How much more should we look for this when we build 
for eternity. Here interests of infinite value are at stake. A 
failure in our foundation will draw after it consequences unuttera- 
bly disastrous and woful. Great changes are before us. We 
must die and pass to the grave and eternity, and finally to the 
judgment. The heavens are to be rolled together as a . scroll^ 
the elements to melt with fervent heat, and the earth with all 
the works therein are to be burned up. And beyond these 
scenes are others still more grand and awful. The coming of 
the Judge with his mighty angels; the gathering of all the dead 
before his bar; the decisions of his righteous tribunal — eternal 
life, eternal death ; endless ages to be lived through by every 
soul of man, either in heaven or in hell. These scenes are be- 
fore us; and surely we need a foundation to rest upon firm as 
the' pillars of the universe, and enduring as our immortal exist- 
ence. Such a foundation is Christ. Every thing else is decay- 
ing, mutable, passing away. Wealth is a vain shadow ; honor 
an empty breath; pleasure a delusory dream; our own right- 
eousness a spider's web. If on these we rely, disappointment 
must ensue, and loss and ruin irreparable. But in Christ we 
have a foundation that can never fail us. He is the same yes- 
terday, to-day and for ever. And if we build upon this rock, 
we may rest assured that it will endure for ever. Age after 
age it has stood, and age after age it will remain the same, un- 
worn by the lapse of time, unchanged by the crumbling down 
of this material creation, and the passing away of all these ter- 
restrial scenes. 

This foundation so firm, so enduring, is commended to us, 

2. By its being a tried foundation. It is not only a stone,. 
but a tried stone. It has been tested in every possible way, 
and in the severest manner, and may therefore justly claim our 
full, unhesitating confidence. If you had a bridge to cross 
which had stood for centuries, and over which thousands of peo- 
ple had passed every day with entire safety, you would feel no- 
hesitation to make trial of it yourself Just in this manner is 
Christ set before you, a tried, a tested foundation of hope.. 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 311 

Millions in every age of the world have rested on that founda- 
tion, and never has one been disappointed. Numerous other 
grounds of hope have been resorted to by men, ever anxious to 
find something to give repose of mind; but they have always 
failed in the day of trial. Philosophy has been tried; infidelity 
has been tried; self-righteousness has been tried ; but the result 
has always been disappointment, sorrow, and hopeless despair. 
But who has ever heard of any one being disappointed who set 
his hope in Christ. A countless multitude, beginning with Abel 
the first to the last saint that has ascended to glory, have built 
their hope on this chief corner-stone; and could the testimony 
of one and all be taken, it would be without an exception — 
Christ is a tried, an all-sufficient Saviour ; in him is all that the 
soul needs — pardon, peace, eternal glory — and none that put 
their trust in him shall ever be confounded. This is a fact of 
great importance, and well suited to inspire our confidence and 
confirm our hopes. The Saviour who is presented to us as a 
ground of trust is not a stranger, an adventurer, one whose 
character is unknown, and whose sufficiency to save is yet to be 
tested. He has been tried; that stone has sustained the hopes 
of all the pious who have lived since the promise of a Re- 
deemer was made to our first parents in Paradise ; all have made 
trial of this way of salvation; and as, in long and bright suc- 
cession, they have risen from earth to heaven, they have testified 
with one heart and voice to the perfect safety of trusting in 
Christ; to the preciousness of his grace and the all-sufficiency 
of his strength to sustain in every trial, and bring off conquer- 
ors and more than conquerors all who rest their immortal hopes 
on him. Hence it is said, 

3. A precious stone. How precious none can know but such 
as have made trial of it in their times of need. We might use 
a variety of epithets authorized by Scripture to show you the 
preciousness of him who is set forth as the foundation of our 
hopes. We might say of him that he is the pearl of great 
price, the desire of all nations, the chief among ten thousands, 
the one altogether lovely. But this would give you no adequate 
idea of the preciousness of Christ viewed in the character in 
which he is set before us in the Scriptures. Contemplate him 
as he is in himself, the brightness of the Father's glory and the 
express image of his person, combining in himself all human 
and divine excellencies, the light of the world and the glory of 
the moral universe. Contemplate him in the greatness and be- 
27* 



312 THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 

nevolence of his work, assuming our nature, dying for our re- 
demption, living and reigning for ever head over all things to 
the church. Contemplate him in the fulness of his salvation, 
in the freeness and abundance of his grace, in the pardon, peace 
and eternal consolation he imparts to all who put their trust in 
him. How precious is Christ viewed in these relations! Ask 
the sinner burdened with a sense of guilt, and sinking in de- 
spair, what he thinks of Christ, as he kneels at the foot of the 
cross and finds peace to his soul. Ask the believer, rejoicing in 
hope and looking to heaven as his eternal home, what he thinks 
of Christ. Ask the dying Christian, as he closes his eyes on 
this world in joyful hope of another and a better, what he thinks 
of Christ, as he walks through the dark valley cheered by his 
presence and upheld by his grace. Ask the redeemed in glory 
what they think of him, as they cast their crowns at his feet 
and shout their eternal anthems of praise to his glorious name; 
but one response is heard — precious, glorious Eedeemer, mighty 
to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him. O 
that all who hear me might feel their need of this Saviour, and 
learn in their ovrn experience how infinitely precious he is. 

4. A corner-stone. This indicates another characteristic of 
our Lord, demanding our grateful attention. The principal 
weight of an edifice rests on the corners ; and hence, in building, 
the largest and firmest blocks are selected and placed there as 
best adapted to unite and support the whole structure. This is 
the idea intended to be expressed when Christ is spoken of as 
a corner-stone. On him, as the chief corner-stone, rests the 
whole spiritual edifice of the church. It is he, who by his 
truth, his grace, and his spirit, connects and sustains the whole 
living temple, incorporating in one divine, symmetrical building, 
Jews and Gentiles, believers of various nations and climes, and 
of manifold denominations, uniting them here on earth in one 
common bond of faith and love, and hereafter in one common 
participation of glory and blessedness. Hence the Apostle says 
— he is our peace, who hath made both, that is, Jews and Gen- 
tiles both, one, one compact, regular superstructure, built upon 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ him- 
self being the chief corner-stone, in whom all the building, fitly 
framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord, in 
whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God 
through the spirit. 

Materials for this sacred temple are collected from thrones 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 313 

and from cottages, from bond and free, from Europe, Asia, Af- 
rica, and America; but notwithstanding these distinctions, they 
are all united on this one eorner-stone, all harmoniously com- 
pacted into one regular, magnificent temple, in which the God 
of heaven delights to dwell, and which he will illuminate with 
his presence, and fill with his glory for ever and ever. It is 
added, 

5. As summing up the whole, — a sure foundation, a stone, a 
tried stone, a precious comer stone ; these united constitute a 
foundation of hope that can never fail ; it is sure, sure as the 
throne of the Eternal, and is therefore recommended to us by 
every circumstance that is fitted to inspire confidence, and sus- 
tain hope. Hence it is said, with striking significancy in the 
close of our text, — he that believeth shall not make haste. 
The specific idea is that of a man on whose house the tempest 
beats, and who apprehends that the foundation is insecure, or 
feels it to be giving way beneath him, and therefore makes 
haste to flee from his dwelling to seek a more safe position. 
Our text declares that the foundation laid in Zion is so firm and 
secure, that if a man trusts himself on it, he shall have no 
cause of alarm, however the storms may beat, and the waves 
dash and foam around him. His confidence is founded on a 
rock, the rock of ages ; and come what may, whether in this 
world or the next, in time or eternity, his superstructure abides 
secure ; he shall not make haste, nor be ashamed, nor con- 
founded, amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds, 
but shall come forth at last unharmed and victorious over all, 
find a friend in his judge, and an everlasting home in the king- 
dom of his Father and God. 

I now pass to show, 

in. That it is the duty and privilege of all to build their 
immortal hopes on this foundation without delay. Let me say 
a word, to explain what is meant by this ; or what it is to build 
on the foundation of which I have been speaking. It means 
then, first of all, that you feel your need of just such a ground 
of hope as is set before you in the gospel ; that, convinced of 
your utter helplessness and guilt as a sinner, and turning from 
every other means of deliverance you set your confidence and 
hope in Christ alone, as the appointed, all-sufiScient Saviour of 
lost men. It means that, fully persuaded of his w^lhngness and 
ability to save, you accept him as the Lord your righteousness, 
your Redeemer and all, and that resting your hope of pardoa 



314 THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 

and eternal life solely on him, and committing to him, in hum- 
ble, grateful trust, your immortal soul to be kept unto the day 
of redemption, you go on to do his will and glorify his name 
till he shall call you home to dwell in his kingdom forever. 
Let me now, in few words, endeavor to convince you, one 
and all, that it is both your duty and your privilege, thus to 
build your hope on the founndation laid for you in Zion. 

1. The offer of building on this foundation is freely made to 
you all. It matters not who you are, nor what your age, char- 
acter or condition in life ; the gospel meets you, every one, with 
the assurance that there is laid for you in the atonement and 
mediation of Christ, a foundation of hope, on which you are 
most freely invited to build and be safe forever. There is no 
deficiency in the love of Christ, or in his power to save; no 
limitation or exclusiveness in the provisions of his grace. He 
came into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the 
world through him might be saved. He died for all; he died 
for you, and he died that you might live, live forever by set- 
ting your hope in him as your Saviour. The Bible is full of 
invitations and promises to this effect; and the voice of mercy 
to you this day is, — Come, for all things are ready; whosoever 
will, let him take of the water of life freely. 

2. This foundation is exclusive of all others. Other founda- 
tion can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. 
There is no other name given under heaven among men 
whereby you can be saved. You are shut up to this only 
alternative; to build on the foundation laid for you in Zion, or 
sink in everlasting despair. What other ground of hope can 
you devise for a needy, lost sinner like yourself? Speak you 
of your freedom from crime; of your good feelings, and good 
intentions, of your fair, moral life, and many generous deeds 
you have done? And are these to save you in the great day 
of the Lord? Will you thrust in your own meager doings, 
your own poor, heartless morality between you and your judge, 
and trust in them as a foundation of hope, when you shall ap- 
pear before his bar to be tried and judged for eternity? See 
that law which you have broken, holy, just and good; hear its 
thunders against the transgressor, — cursed is every one that 
continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to 
do them; the soul that sinneth, it shall die; look to the scenes 
before you, the lonely hour of death, the solemn realities of 
eternity, and the awful decisions of the fiinal judgment; and 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 315 

say, is there any other safe foundation of hope, but that which is 
offered you in the gospel? Is there any thing in you, in your 
heart, your life, your morality, your good actions as you may 
call them, on which you can rely as a ground of hope, in pros- 
pect of the scenes before you, death, judgment and eternity? 
Behold him, the Father of mercies, meeting you in Christ, his 
Son, and freely proffering you eternal life in him ; and will you 
turn from this only method of salvation, and in the rash and 
wicked presumption that you can trust in something else for 
safety, hasten forward, all burdened with guilt, as you are, and 
pressed down with a present condemnation, to meet the issues 
of your final trial? O, be not so unwise. Turn to the strong- 
hold ye prisoners of hope. Look to the Lord and be saved. 

3. You will soon be in a situation in which you will feel 
your need of a foundation. You live in a changing, dying 
world ; the scenes in which you are now conversant, and which 
so much engross your attention, are fast passing away, and the 
dearest and most valued of your earthly possessions and en- 
joyments are but as a vapor, which, while you look upon, it is 
gone. In a few days, even should life be spared, of which you 
have no certainty, those of you who are now young will be 
hurried forward into middle life ; and those in middle life, will 
be in the place of the aged, and the aged be gone to the great 
congregation of the dead. Kay, in a few days, all, all of you 
will be gone from earth, fixed, in eternity. And" as you pass 
on through the successive stages of your earthly being to your 
dwelling place beyond the grave, who can. tell what sorrows 
will thicken around your path; what sicknesses will come; 
what disappointments and griefs will weigh down your spirit; 
what darkness and gloom will shroud the dying hour, or what 
despair and sinking of soul will come upon you as you enter 
the valley of death to go and appear before God your judge ? 
These scenes are before you; you may not think of them; you 
may neglect to prepare for them ; you may put them quite out 
of mind, and live as if they were mere matters of fiction ; still 
they are before you; you must meet them, pass through them; 
must die, and after death go to the judgment. And will you 
need no foundation on which to rest your immortal hopes in 
passing through scenes like these? What is to sustain your 
spirit in the days of darkness that are before you, what give 
peace in the dying hour; what comfort you amid the still sol- 
emn scenes of eternity, or assure your hope as you are sum- 



316 THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 

moned to appear before the great tribunal? These are perti- 
nent inquiries to come home to your hearts now in the days of 
health and prosperity ; and if you are wise you will not dismiss 
them without giving them your most serious consideration, and 
striving to settle them on grounds that will endure when the 
winds and the tempests of another day shall beat on your house 
and subject your foundation to the severest test. 

4. Let me direct your attention once more to the foundation 
laid for you in Zion. It would seem as if it could only be nec- 
essary to point needy, perishing sinners as we all are, to this 
foundation, in order to engage them at once to build their eter- 
nal hopes upon it. Look, then, and behold who it is that lays 
for you a foundation of hope, even the Lord your God, the 
Maker and Judge of the world. Behold where this foundation 
is laid — in no distant place, or difficult of access, but in Zion, 
in the church, amid the instructions, promises, privileges and 
hopes offered you in the gospel — all near by and pressed upon 
your acceptance with infinite kindness. Behold how solid is 
this foundation. A stone — how tested by time and varied ex- 
perience; a tried stone — how precious to all who make trial of 
it, adapted to meet and remove their deepest wants; how fitted 
to sustain all your dearest interests for eternity; a corner-stone 
• — uniting and supporting the whole spiritual temple of God, all 
of every name and nation that build upon it ; and then, as sum- 
ming up the whole, how sure — sure as the unchanging truth of 
God, as his own eternal throne. This is the foundation on which 
you are invited to rest your immortal hopes — you, a frail child 
of mortality; a needy, perishing sinner, soon to die and pass 
into eternity to appear in the presence of your Judge — you are 
invited freely to build on this foundation, and doing so you have 
the promise of a faithful Creator that you shall never make 
haste, never be moved, or disappointed, or confounded during 
eternal ages. What now have you to say to this proposal? 
Are you ready to comply with it ; or are you meditating ex- 
cuses, apologies for putting off the proposal, choosing yet to live 
longer without hope and without God in the world? Remem- 
ber that the proposal just referred to is not from man but from 
God your final Judge, and it brings you to a very solemn crisis ; 
it forces upon you once more the decision of the question — the 
most momentous a creature is ever called to decide — will you 
accept Christ as the foundation of your soul's hope for eternity, 
or will you reject him and go unpardoned, unshielded, to meet 



THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR LOST MEN. 317 

your doom at the final judgment ? I must remind you too that 
if this only foundation of hope be rejected, it will be to you a 
stone of stumbling and rock of offense — the occasion of an ag- 
gravated guilt and of a more fearful condemnation. There are 
a few texts of Scripture which in connection with this subject 
should strike alarm into the mind of every impenitent, delaying 
sinner. The same Lord of hosts who shall be for a sanctuary 
to his people, a sure corner-stone to all who put their trust in 
him, shall be for a stone of stumbling and rock of offense, for 
a gin and a snare to all who turn away from him, and they shall 
stumble, and fall, and be broken. In very similar language an 
Apostle declares — Unto you that believe, he is precious ; but a 
stone of stumbling and rock of offense to them that stumble at 
the word, who believe not. Hear also the words of the Sav- 
iour — Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken ; but 
on whomsoever this stone shall fall it will grind him to powder. 
There is here no room for neutrality, no time for indecision or 
delay ; it is for or against, it is life or death, it is heaven or hell. 
To the faithful in Christ Jesus, to all who truly rest their 
hopes on him, let me say at parting, be assured you are built on 
a foundation that can never fail you. Let your outward condi- 
tion be what it may, your trials, difficulties, discouragements 
ever so many ; nay, let all nature go to vvreck, and sea and land, 
and heaven and earth be blended together in vast confusion and 
ruin ; still this foundation stands firm, and the living temple 
built upon it will remain immovable for ever. There resting 
your immortal hopes you shall be safe through all changes, safe 
in life, in death, and during eternity. The infinite God is your 
portion, and all his perfections are pledged for your present and 
immortal good. Gratefully then acknowledge his grace in pro- 
viding for you this sure foundation ; rest upon it in peace, in joy 
and hope ; inscribe it, all precious and ever-enduring as it is, 
with your daily thanksgivings and praises, and strive, as you 
have opportunity, to lead others to build upon it as the only 
ground of hope for souls perishing in sin. 



SERMON XXIX. 



DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

Hebrews ii: 14, 15. For as much then as the children are partakers of 
flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through 
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, 
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to 
bondage. 

The gospel derives its highest glory and its mightiest achieve- 
ments from a fact, at once the most mysterious and the most 
humiliating — the incarnation and death of its divine Author. 
The race whom Christ came to save were partakers of flesh 
and blood — human beings — subject to the infirmities and sor- 
rows of a mortal, dying state, and in order to make expiation 
for their sins and redeem them from their guilt and their woes, 
it was necessary that he should take part of the same; should 
become as one of us ; that by his sufferings and death, in our 
stead, he might deliver us from condemnation and make us heirs 
of eternal life. And his death, though procured by treason, 
and perpetrated by wicked hands, was the signal of triumph 
over the powers of darkness, and of complete deliverance to 
all who become the children of God by adoption. All this is 
asserted in our text, in illustrating which I shall consider, 

I. The state of those whom Chiist came to deliver. 

II. The deliverance which he wrought out for them; and, 

III. The means by which that deliverance was effected. 

I. Those, then, whom Christ came to deliver, are represented 
in the text as partakers of flesh and blood, as obnoxious to • 
death and in bondage through fear of it all their lives. This is 
the natural state of man; of all men previous to their deliver- 
ance by Christ. Not that all who are out of Christ are alike 
and at all times conscious of being in this state of bondage 
through fear of death. There are many ways in -^hich this 
fear is stifled in the minds of men ; some live in brutish igno- 



DELIVERANCE PROM THE PEAR OF DEATH. 319 

ranee of their state and prospect; some put off all serious con- 
sideration of their latter end, burying themselves in the pursuits 
of earth and time ; while others flatter themselves with hopes 
of deliverance, though they know not how or wliy they are to 
be partakers of it. Bat when men put away these delusive 
shifts, these refuges of lies, and allow the truth of God to come 
•home and shed its light on the mind, showing them their true 
state and character, they quickly find themselves in a state of 
bondage through fear of death. All while in their natural state 
of sin and ruin, are actually subject to this bondage, and nothing 
is needed to bring them under the fears and terrors of it but a 
clear view of their condition as sinners. Nor is it possible, even 
for the most secure and careless, entirely to exclude from the 
•mind all thought of death and its consequences in the state be- 
yond the grave. That all must die is certain; and moving on, 
as all are, to the eternal world, amidst ten thousand monitions 
of the fact, the inquiry, what is to be my end; what scenes 
await me in that untried state of being to which I am hastening, 
will often press on the mind, and then will come fear and dread 
to agitate and disquiet the soul. 

Let us for a moment contemplate the feelings and views of 
a man approaching death with no well grounded hope of salva- 
tion through Christ. 

1. In the first place, he experiences great losses, and finds no 
alleviations under them. Death comes to him in the character 
of an unmixed evil; he comes the king of terrors, to take from 
him all his earthly possessions and enjoyments, and to send him 
away destitute and alone into the invisible world. At his ap- 
proach health, and vigor, and beauty decay; riches, and honors, 
and pleasures fly away ; plans, and pursuits, and hopes die, and 
the soul, "of all but moral character breft," passes from the 
scenes of earth and time into the immediate presence of its 
God and Judge. And what alleviation has he who is subjected 
to these inevitable losses by death? None at all. When the 
stroke falls he and the world part for ever, and nothing of all 
he possessed on earth can afford him one moment's respite, or 
one moment's comfort, as he descends into the dark valley. In 
his extremity he has no God to whom he can look for support, 
no Saviour to whom he can commit his departing spirit, and no 
hope that, though deprived of earthly things, there is laid up 
for him in heaven a treasure that shall never fail. He suffers 

28 



320 DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

the loss of all his earthly possessions, and he has nothing to 
comfort him under the loss. 

2. This man approaching death with no hope in Christ is 
surrounded with fearful darkness, and sees no light before him. 
As the world recedes from his view it withdraws every ray of 
light, and leaves nothing for his wearied and dying eye to rest 
upon but impenetrable darkness. His former enjoyments and 
hopes, whatever they were, are fled, and are with the years be- 
yond the flood. From the past he can derive no consolation, 
and the future is all cheerless uncertainty. He is involved in 
deep night, but knows not of any morning that is to dawn upon 
the thickening gloom. The ocean spreads before him vast and 
dark, but he knows not to what shore it is bearing him. If he 
is a heathen or a skeptic he knows not that he is to exist here- 
after, much less in what state he is to exist. " Poor, fluttering 
spirit," said the philosopher Adrian on his death-bed, "poor 
guest and comrade of the body, to what unknown regions wilt 
thou wing thy way, pale, naked, trembling? Thou art leaving 
jfchy once loved haunts, thy former companions, and wonted joys; 
but into what dark abodes art thou now going? Alas! thou 
^canst not tell." And Socrates, the wisest and best of all the 
ancient sages, said to his friends just before his death — "I am 
going out of the world and you are to continue in it; but which 
of us tias the better part is a secret to every one but God." And 
Kant, the German philosopher, being asked, about a year before 
his death, what he promised himself in regard to a future life, 
replied, after reflecting a moment, ^^ Nothing certain." In an- 
swer to a previous question of the same kind, he said, "I have 
Jio conception of a future state." The same is true of all who 
reject the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof. Death is 
emphatically to them the land of darkness. They have no light 
to cheer their steps as they travel toward it, and no hope from 
any thing beyond it. And even for those who believe in a fu- 
ture state of existence there is no hope and no consolation in 
the prospect of death unless they are reconciled to God through 
the blood of Christ. Whence should hope or comfort come to 
them? They know indeed that they are to survive the dissolu- 
tion of the body. They know too that they are sinners; and 
they are made to feel, as they approach the closing scene, that 
sin is the sting of death, and that going unprepared into the 
presence of their God and Judge, they can expect nothing from 



DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 321 

his righteous tribunal but the sentence of condemnation. 
Hence — 

3. The man approaching death with no hope in Christ antic- 
ipates terrible evils, and sees no way of escape. This is indeed 
the most fearful part of the bondage spoken of in the text. 
It is the consciousness of sin and of exposure to punishment on 
account of it that gives to death its sting and to the grave its 
terrors. No man with the consciousness of unpardoned sin 
weighing down the spirit can think of dying and going into the 
presence of a judging God without disquietude and alarm. And 
whence shall the man held in this fearful bondage look for deliv- 
erance? There is none for him- out of Christ. Reason sug- 
gests none. Conscience allows none. The word of God de- 
clares there is none. The remembrance of the past furnishes 
only materials to feed the fires of guilt and remorse ; a view of 
the present tells him he is unprepared to meet his God, and the 
future is overhung with thick clouds of gathering wrath. 

Such is the state of a man approaching death with no hope 
in Christ. He experiences great losses and finds no alleviations 
under them ; he is enveloped in thick darkness, and sees no 
light before him ; he anticipates terrible evils and sees no way 
of escape. 

The miseries of this state of bondage are felt in different de- 
grees by different persons. All are liable to them ; all feel 
them at one time or another and in larger or smaller measure. 
And some there are who are all their lifetime in bondage 
through fear of them. Death is always terrible in their view ; 
and whenever it is apprehended to be near, or they are obliged 
to think of it as a change through which they must sooner or 
later pass, they tremble and are afraid. 

Let us then consider — 

H. The deliverance wrought out by Christ for those who are 
held in this fearful bondage. This is of a nature exactly 
adapted to the condition of those whom Christ came to deliver, 
and is comprised in three particulars. 

1. Christ the Redeemer, mighty to save, furnishes for the 
children of his grace the most abundant alleviations under the 
losses of death. They must die hke others, and be severed 
from all their earthly connections and enjoyments. But here 
is the difference. Amid all the changes of hfe, and especially 
in the solemn and decisive change of death, they have strong 
consolations which the wicked know not of. The Saviour is 



322 DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

"with them, their light and their salvation. He is a covert from 
the storm, a refuge in the time of need. All things work to- 
gether for their good, so that they faint not in the day of trial, 
but can say in the darkest hour — we know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
This was the secret of that divine confidence and hope which 
sustained the primitive disciples amid the sufferings and deaths 
which they were called to endure. Safe in the deliverance pro- 
cured for them by Christ, they felt that no earthly changes, nor 
death itself could essentially harm them. Their treasures were 
in heaven where their hearts were; and assured of this, they 
took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, resigned themselves to 
death with the quietness of a child going to sleep, and were 
willing at any moment to be unclothed of their earthly taberna- 
cle, that they might be clothed upon with their house from 
heaven, that so mortality might be swallowed up of life. 

2. Christ having himself risen from the dead, has poured the 
light of immortality over the darkness of the grave, and given 
assurance — that all who die in him shall also rise to eternal life 
and blessedness. This single fact is .worth infinitely more than 
all the arguments of unaided reason to dispel the fear of death 
and inspire the soul with full bright hope. The Son of God 
our Saviour has entered the grave before us. He has sanctified 
it for his people, and embalmed it, if I may so speak, with the 
hope of immortal life. He has risen from the dead the first 
fruits of them that slept, so that death is a conquered foe, and 
has no more dominion over those that sleep in Jesus. His res- 
urrection is the pledge and pattern of theirs, and in the faith of 
him who burst the bars of death, and rose to live and reign, the^ 
Christian can look with calmness and hope to the end of his 
course; the clouds that once hung over it have passed away; 
the light of eternal day has risen upon the tomb, and he views 
it only as his passway to the mansions which his risen and glo- 
rified Saviour has prej^ared for him in the heavenly world. 

3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, having died for our sins and risen 
again for our justification, delivers his people from all the antic- 
ipated evils of death in the future world. It is appointed unto- 
men once to die, and after that the judgment ; and, as before 
intimated, it is from the apprehensions of a judgment to come 
that death gathers its deepest gloom and most formidable terrors^ 
It is the thought of what is to follow death ; of what awaits the 



DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 323 

soul on its entrance into the unseen world that weighs down the 
guilty spirit of man, and makes him tremble and fall back as 
the last enemy approaches. 

But to tliem that are in Christ there is no condemnation. 
Jesus has delivered them from the wrath to come. His blood 
has been applied to wash away their sins ; his grace has created 
them anew in his own blessed image; and thus pardoned and 
accepted in the Beloved, for them death hath no sting ; over 
them the grave can boast n« victory, and the second death has 
no power. Dying to them is like falling asleep after the toils 
of a long and wearisome day. It is their discharge from the , 
labors, the sins and sorrows of life. They sleep in Jesus; they 
enter into rest, and the voice from heaven respecting them is, — 
Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth ; yea, 
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their 
works do follow them. 

Of what then have the redeemed of the Lord to be afraid ? 
Of what can they be afraid with the ample charter of privilege 
and hope in the gospel spread before them. They have noth- 
ing to fear in death and nothing beyond the ^rave. In no part 
of the universe have they anything to dread; for God is their 
friend, and he will be their protector everywhere. On the dy- 
ing bed; in the grave; on the way to the judgment; at the sol- 
emn tribunal; and in the eternal world, they are under the eye 
and guardian care of their Saviour; and found in him nothing 
in the universe can injure them. He the captain of salvation 
has for them led the way to glory, and while they hear his voice 
saying to them, — he that believeth on me shall never perish, 
but I will raise him up at the last day, and where I am there 
also my servant shall be, they may well sing in the house of 
their pilgrimage. — The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want ; 
and when they enter the dark valley, they may raise the shout 
of triumph — death, where is thy sting ; grave, where is 
thy victory ? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin 
is the law ; but thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The deliverance which the Saviour effects for the children 
of his grace is perfect. It meets all their wants, rescues them 
•from all their dangers, and stands connected with the joys of 
eternal life. Let us consider, 

III. The means by which this deliverance is effected. The 
text declares that it is by death. That through death he might 
28* 



324 DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and 
deliver those who through fear of death were all their life-time 
subject to bondage. Our Lord Jesus Christ then died to con- 
quer, or conquered by dying. By death he abolished death and 
brought life and immortality to light; thus subduing, rendering 
inefficacious and void, the deadly power of the great adversary of 
souls, or the power by which he leads men into sin, and to death 
its conseqnence ; and at the same time delivering from the bond- 
asre of sin and the fear of condemnation all who believe in him. 
Is it asked why Chiist died, or why his death was necessary to 
effect the deliverance spoken of in our text ? The answer is 
found in the character and state of those whom he came to 
deliver. They were sinners, transgressors of God's law, and 
obnoxious to its curse ; and in order that he might redeem 
them from the curse of the law, it behooved him, the Son of 
God, to assume our nature, to partake of flesh and blood, to 
become like one of us, that he might suffer and die in our stead, 
make atonement for sin, and open a way in which God might 
be just while he justifies and saves them that believe. Hence 
the great importance which the scriptures everywhere attach 
to the death of Christ. This is the cardinal fact of the Chris- 
tian system — the theme which seems always to have been up- 
permost in the minds of the sacred writers and on which, more 
than- any other, they constantly insisted in all their teachings 
respecting the terms of salvation. They never dreamt the 
the foolish dream of some modern theorizers, that Christ died 
simply as a good man, a martyr to the truth ; and that his death 
is effective to our salvation, only as by its example of fortitude 
and patience in suffering for righteousness' sake, it exerts a re- 
formatory influence over us, — serving to bring us to virtue and 
holiness. Had they believed this to have been the design 
of the death of Christ they would never have spoken of it with 
such intensity of interest nor in terms so eminently adapted to 
make the impression, that the whole scene of agony in the gar- 
den and on the cross, was sacrificial, expiatory, designed to 
hold forth the death of Christ as an atonement for sin. This 
is the view which sacred writers always take of the incarnation 
and death of the Son of God our Saviour. They believed, — 
and this belief was to them as life from the dead — that Christ 
was delivered for our offenses; and rose again for our justifica- 
tion ; that he gave himself a sin-offering, a ransom for us ; that 
by his stripes we are healed, by his death saved ; and that hav- 
ing thus redeemed his people by the price of his blood, he 



DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 325 

delivers them from the wrath to come, gives them peace with 
God and enables them to triumph over death and hell. Here is 
the grand peculiarity of the gospel as a system of mediation and 
mercy. Its power to deliver from the bondage of death lies 
in the atonement of Christ made by offering himself a sac- 
rifice for sin ; thereby securing pardon and full salvation to the 
believer. His death, viewed in this light is seen to be of su- 
preme importance. By it the Saviour spoiled principalities and 
powers, and triumphed over them by his cross ; and having 
thus wrought out and brought in an everlasting righteousness 
for the children whom he came to redeem, he has destroyed 
for them the deadly power of their spiritual enemy, the devil, 
delivered them from the bondage of death and the fear of con- 
demnation, and has given them authority to sing on the borders 
of the grave in face of the king of terrors, — I know whom I have 
believed, and am persuaded that he will keep that which I have 
committed to him against that day. Return unto thy rest, O 
my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. 

In conclusion, I am led to remark, 

1. That infidelity is not more to be rejected on account of its 
falseness, than abhorred on account of its hostility to the dear- 
est hopes of man. What does it do for its disciples in that 
hour when the soul most needs support? Does it offer any 
compensation for the losses of death ; does it shed any light 
on the darkness of death ; or remove any one of the present 
or anticipated evils which press on the conscience in the 
near prospect of death? Nothing of all this. It is itself a 
land of darkness and shadow of death ; barren of all good, 
of all peace and comfort and hope. In the soul's extremity, it 
has not a word of consolation to utter. Rejecting the light 
and hopes of the gospel, it knows nothing of another world, not 
even that the soul is to survive the dissolution of the body; 
much less in what slate it is to exist beyond the grave ; how it 
may obtain the pardon of sin, and how appear with acceptance 
in the presence of a just and holy God. On these points of deep 
and solemn interest to a dying man, infidelity has nothing to say. 
Its voice is dumb, or if it attempts to speak, it is only to utter 
conjectures, and conjectures are cold, comfortless things in the 
hour of death. What we then need is assurance ; something 
to allay fear and sustain hope by speaking peace to the soul, 
and pointing it to the favor of a reconciled God and to a home 
in his heavenly kingdom. All this the blessed gospel does for 
him that believeth. Its voice is the voice of mercy proclaiming 



326 DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

pardon and life to the guilty. It throws a bright and cheering 
light over all the dark scenes of death and eternity; and while 
it scatters blessings innumerable along the entire path of life, 
it assures the departing spirit of far richer blessings reserved 
for it in heaven. But the gospel which does all this infidelity 
rejects as a fable. And what does it offer you in return? 
Nothing, absolutely nothing. It is only a destroyer ; taking 
away every thing and restoring nothing. Its whole work is to 
pull down, not to build up ; to bewilder, not to enlighten ; to 
kill, not to make alive. Ought it not then to be rejected both On 
account of its falseness and its hostility to the dearest interests 
of man? I know not that I address an individual in this 
assembly who has embraced infidelity or is disposed to do so. 
If I did, I would say to him, — take your speculations and your 
dreams, and get from them all the comfort you can, but give 
me the Christian verity, the gospel that tells me of life and im- 
mortality, and assures my soul of a part in the Saviour's love. 
This gospel is so full of peace and hope, so sweet and blessed 
both in life and death, that if it even were, as you claim, a 
dream, a delusion, I should, with the scourger of Lord Bolin- 
broke's philosophy, account that man an enemy that awoke me 
from it, awoke me to truth and misery. 

2. Believers in Christ ought to enter more experimentally 
and practically into the design of his mediation and death. A 
part of that design was to deliver his followers from the fear of 
condemnation, and to inspire them with firm, and settled hope in 
prospect of death and the scenes of eternity. To bring them 
to this calm and peaceful state of mind, he himself died for 
them, entered the grave, rose again and lives forever, and has 
thus given assurance that, as he their divine Head has triumphed 
over death and the grave, so all his followers shall. Say, now, 
my brethren, have you entered into this great design of the 
Saviour's death ? Is it fulfilled in your own experience, and 
are you enjoying the consolations of it, as you pass on pilgrims 
to another world ? Are you so in Christ, that you can say, I 
know whom I have believed ; so in him, that you have a sweet 
and sustaining consciousness that to you there is no condemna- 
tion ; that he is your peace, the Lord your righteousness and 
the rock of your salvation ? What if you were to be put to the 
test ; what if you were to be summoned this week or this day to 
die and go into the unseen world ? Would not some of you 
tremble and sink in fear and despondency, as those that have 



DELIVERANCE FROM THE FEAR OP DEATH. 327 

no hope ? But why should it be so ? The Lord Jesus Christ 
has laid a foundation firm as the everlasting hills on which you 
are invited to rest } our immortal hopes ; millions in both worlds 
have tried that foundation and have found it perfectly safe. Yet 
you are afraid to tiust him who has done so much for you, and 
are subject to bondage all your life through fear of death. Is 
this your faith, this your confidence in the great Deliverer? 
How unlike that of the primitive disciples ; how unworthy 
the faithfulness, love and power of him who gave himself to die 
for you, and lives forever to perfect that which coucerneth you- 
in heaven. Every disciple of Jesus should repose with such 
strong and living confidence on him as his Redeemer, as to be 
able to say, I know whom I have believed, and am persua- 
ded he will keep that which I have committed to him against 
that day. And if you, my brethren, would, have this peace in 
believing, and rejoice in the liberty of God's children, free from 
bondage and fear, form large scriptural views of the nature and 
design of the Saviour's mediation — of the dignity of his person, 
of the completeness of his work,.of the certain everlasting truth 
of all he has declared and promised. Commit your all to him, 
your all for time and eternity ; follow wherever he shall 
lead you, and rely upon it, there will be an end of doubt and 
fear and gloomy bondage. A heavenly light will shine on all 
your way through life — harbinger of eternal day. Death will 
have no terrors to you; jou will look to it with hope ; will meet 
it in peace, will sing with joy and triumph as you pass the 
dark valley, and ascend to dwell forever in the presence of your 
God and Saviour. 

3. In view of this subject let all be persuaded to take refuge in 
him who alone can deliver them from the fear of death and the 
bondage of condemnation. I address many who are conscious 
that they are unprepared to die, and who, should they be called 
to leave the world in their present state, know that it would fill 
them with terror and dismay. Great and solemn things are 
before you, my friends. The world is to be given up ; the 
pains of disease endured ; the wounds of death yielded to ; the 
the grave dwelt in ; eternity Kved through ; the decisions of the 
judgment met, and more than all, the wrath of God felt forever, 
if you die in impenitence and sin. You may shut your eyes to 
these evils ; and in the day when you think your mountain 
standeth strong, refuse to reflect upon them, but they will not 
therefore cease to be, nor stay their steady approach. You may 



328 DELIVFKANCE FKOM THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

have recourse to ^hat expedients you please to escape them y 
still they will every day be coming nearer and nearer to you, 
and in an hour you think not of will overwhelm you^ 
One way of escape, and but one is before you. It is plain, 
open, free. Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to 
every one that believeth ; and over those who put their trust in 
him, death has no power. They are delivered in this life from 
its bondage, and in the life to come from its everlasting pains. 
But if the deliverance thus procured for you by the death of 
Christ, and kindly offered to your acceptance be rejected, you 
must meet death without hope, meet him, in all the unmitigated 
terrors of his name, and go unpardoned, unblessed to appear 
before God in judgment. Then listen, my fellow men, to the 
voice of mercy, and while it is called to-day, hasten to lay hold 
on the hope set before you. I point you to the mediation of 
Christ, to his atoning death, to his triumphant resurrection, to 
his reign of mercy and grace now in the world of light, and by 
all these I would urge you to receive him as your Saviour, that 
so you may be prepared for th^ scenes before you, meet them 
in peace, and share in the eternal glories of his kingdom. The 
time is near when with our illustrious statesman* recently de- 
c eased, you shall feel every one as he did — tht/ rod, thy rod, ihi/ 
staff"- — that is what I want. And it is a want which nothing else 
in the universe can supply. Awake then to a just sense of your 
situation and your prospects ; and hasten to make the necessary 
preparation for an exchange of worlds. The way of life is 
open before you. The Son of God offers himself your Sav- 
iour. He meets you in all your wants and woes, and proffers 
you the eternal guardianship of his grace and love. His voice 
to every one of you is — Look unto me and be saved. Come 
poor, and I will enrich you ; come guilty, and I will pardon you ; 
come disconsolate, and I will give you joy ; come desponding, 
and I will cheer you with immortal hope ; come subject ta 
bondage through fear of death, and I will ransom you from 
bondage, give you victory over death and finally raise you to 
everlasting life. Hear his voice then and live ; hear it and put 
away the corrodings of guilt and the fear of condemnation. 
Then shall you know the full joy of the Apostle's words — Q 
death ! where is thy sting ? O grave ; where is thy victory ? 
Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

*Daniel Webster. 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 329 

Here then I leave my message. It is a message of grace 
and salvation from him who is the resurrection and the life ; 
your Redeemer and your King. Receive it in faith and love, 
and the blessings it announces shall be yours ; yours in experi- 
ence and possession, through life, in the hour of death, at the 
resurrection and final judgment, and during the endless ages of 
eternity. 



SERMON XXX. 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 

Romans i: 16. For I not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; — it is the pow- 
er of God unto salvadon, to every one that beUeveth, to the Jew first, and 
also to the Greek. 

How much cause the Apostle had to be ashamed of the gos- 
pel in his circumstances, it is difficult for us even to conceive. 
The gospel was a new religion. It had just sprung up in Judea, 
among a people hated and despised by all other nations. Its 
founder had been crucified, as a malafactor, a sort of death uni- 
versally held execrable, and inflicted only on criminals of the 
lowest grade and of the worst character. Its disciples were few, 
and for the most part from the humblest walks of life ; and its min- 
isters were not philosophers nor statesmen, but men of obscure 
birth, and of no pretension whatever to human learning, or world- 
ly greatness. The gospel was also accounted an unsocial, uncom- 
promising religion. It waged direct and open war with every 
form of false religion, and with all the favorite vices and sins 
of men. It summoned the Jew to renounce his confidence in the 
gorgeous rites and ceremonies of Judaism, and to fall down 
before the cross as furnishing for him the only hope of salvation. 
It summoned the Gentile to cast away his idols as vain and 
worthless, and to change his whole sentiments and habits of 



530 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OP GOD UNTO SALVATION. 

life, if he would escape the wrath to come and save his soul. 
In a word, the gospel met all of every name, the philosopher 
and the peasant, the king and the subject, the prince and the 
beggar, with one common charge of guilt and condemnation, 
and propounded to all one common condition of pardon and life, 
repentance of sin and faith in a crucified Saviour. 

It is easy to see that such a system of religion, in such cir- 
cumstances must awaken opposition and hatred, and expose its 
advocates to ineffable scorn and reproach. To the Jews it was 
a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. Wherever it 
was preached, it was persecuted and despised ; and the Apostles 
wherever they went as heralds of the gospel, encountered igno- 
miny and opposition, and were accounted, by the great and the 
honorable of this world, the filth and ofFscouring of all things. 

It was a mark then of high moral courage in the Apostle not to 
be ashamed of the gospel; to stand forth its bold, uncompro- 
mising advocate, and to be willing, as he tells us in the context, 
to preach the gospel at Rome — Rome the capital of the world; 
the seat of all that was refined and luxurious ; the very center 
of human power and greatness, and of the most extended and 
deep rooted system of idolatry. The Apostle well knew that' 
he could not enter that proud city to preach the gospel of Christ, 
without exposing himself to persecution, shame and reproach 
in every form, and to the sufferings of martyrdom. And yet 
he declared himself willing to meet and encounter all this, if he 
might be permitted to preach the gospel there, and there gather 
trophies of mercy unto Christ as he had among other Gentiles. 
The secret of this is disclosed in our text. The gospel was re- 
garded by Paul, as the power of God, the power of God unto 
salvation, to every one that believetU. He had felt the effects 
of that power in his own soul. He had witnessed the effects of 
it in others, and knowing it to be the appointed and honored 
instrument of God in saving souls, he was willing to go any 
where and suffer any thing, if so the power of that instrument 
might be manifested in accomplishing the great end for which 
it was designed. 

Power is of two kinds; physical and moral. Physical power 
is the application of force to move or change the position and 
forms of material bodies. I raise a weight from the ground ; I 
move this Bible with my hand; I project a body into the air by 
the force of my arm. Each of these is an example of physical 
power. Moral power is the application of motives to mind. I 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 331 

wish to persuade a man to a particular course of conduct ; for 
example, to become a Christian ; I reason with him ; I address 
his understanding with truth and argument, and lay before him. 
such considerations, as I deem best adapted to awaken his con- 
science, influence his will and move him to act in accordance 
with the object to be attained. This is an example of moral 
power, — the influence of truth over mind. 

It is hardly necessary to say that it is moral power which is ' 
meant in the text. It is the power of truth and motive em- 
bodied in the revelation which God has given of his Son our 
Saviour, and which he employs as the means of reconciling men 
to himself and fittinof them for his service and kingdom. What 
I design in the present discourse is to illustrate the character 
of the gospel, indicated by its being called the power of God. 

1. It may assist us to form a just view of this subject, if we 
consider, for a moment, the design of God in giving his gospel 
to mankind. This was to illustrate the greatness of his power 
and the riches of his grace in sanctifying and saving lost men 
and raising them to the eternal joys of his kingdom. This de- 
sign occupied the divine minS^ in eternity. It was intimated 
in the promise made to our first parents in paradise, and was 
kept constantly in view in all the dispensations of Divine Prov- 
idence, till it was fully brought out and illustrated in the 
advent and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence it is 
said, — God created all things by Jesus Christ — to the intent, 
that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places 
might be known by the church, by the church as sanctified 
and saved by the gospel, the manifold wisdom of God, accord- 
ing to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus 
our Lord. 

This then is the end to be effected by the gospel ; the illus- 
tration of the manifold wisdom of God, in setting up a kingdom 
of truth and holiness on the earth, and ultimately gathering 
home to glory a countless multitude of redeemed souls. The 
end in view shows the power of the means employed. That 
gospel must be of mighty efficacy which has been chosen by 
the all-wise God as the fit and only instrument of saving a lost 
world, and thus displaying before the intelligent universe his 
glorious attributes of wisdom, power and grace. But, — 

2. Let us consider some of the specific elements of power 
contained in the gospel. I have already stated that the power 
included in the gospel is moral power. It consists in the adap- 

29 



332 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION 

tation of the truths and motives of the gospel, to impress ^nd 
move, to mould and form the minds of men aft€^' the image of 
God. Viewed in this light the gospel is the most powerful in- 
strument that can be brought to act on the mind of man. It is 
noiseless but mighty in its operations. And these are some of 
the elements of its power. 

1. The affecting view which it gives us of the character of 
God. It does not simply declare the being and perfections of 
an all-powerful, just and holy God, in whose presence we con- 
stantly live and act, and to whom we must finally give account. 
It leads us to contemplate him as a God of infinite love and 
compassion ; exercising the feelings of a Father toward the lost 
children of men, and operating in the greatness of his wisdom 
and grace, for their recovery from sin and death to holiness and 
life eternal in heaven. Viewed simply in the character of a 
just God and holy, there would be nothing in the character of 
the Divine Being to attract and subdue sinners of our race 
to penitence and love. Every attribute of his nature would 
appear arrayed against them, and would operate only to drive 
them to despair. Hence the entire inefficacy of mere natural 
religion to reform the characters of men, and inspire them with 
peace and hope. It tells them of an almighty, just and govern- 
ing God, but tells them not of his mercy and grace as exer- 
cised in pardoning sin and saving the sinner. This is made 
known only in the gospel ; and this, while it veils not in the 
least, the other attributes of the Deity, as his holiness, justice 
and truth, presents him to our view in the infinite attractions 
of his love and tenderness, and bids us, all guilty and lost 
as we are, to come to him as a God waiting to be gracious and 
ready to welcome our return with a free pardon of sin, and the 
lull joys of his everlasting friendship and love. This in all ages 
has been found an element of mighty power in the gospel. It 
has turned into feebleness all other means of saving men from 
sin and reconciling them to God ; and that because it brings to 
bear on the mind all the moral, subduing, transforming influ- 
ence which is embodied in his character as a just God and holy, 
and at the same time a forgiving- Father, and a gracious, al- 
mighty Saviour. 

Another element of power in the gospel is the view which it 
presents of the character and state of man as a sinner. Viewed 
in the light of the gospel every human being is seen to be in a 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OP GOD UNTO SALVATION 333 

condition deeply solemn and critical. Condemned by the law 
he has violated, the penalty is suspended for a season, that an 
opportunity may be given for mercy to come in and means be 
used for his recovery to holiness and God. The result of the 
trial is the formation of a character for heaven or for hell. 
The season of probation is short and very uncertain ; and when 
it is closed the fate of every son and daughter of Adam is fixed 
for eternity. 

Such is the light in which the gospel leads us to contemplate 
the character and state of man. Created in the image of God, 
and clothed with a dignity a little lower than the angels, yet 
ruined by sin and in danger of falling into everlasting misery, 
he is placed for a short, uncertain period, undei; a dispensation 
of grace, where he has the offer of pardon and the means of 
eternal life secured to him ; soon he must die and pass to expe- 
rience in eternity the consequences of the state of trial and 
probation which is now in progress. No rational beings ever 
were or can be in a situation more important and critical, 
or more fitted powerfully to aff'ect and move all the sensibili- 
ties and faculties of the soul. 

Another element of power in the gospel is the view it pre- 
sents of the character and work of Christ, the Son of God, our 
Saviour. It tells us, not only that we may be saved, but how. 
we may be saved, even by the atoning blood and intercession of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself to die 
for us. This is the great theme of power in the gospel ; the 
theme on which the Apostles continually insisted in all their 
communications to men, and which, wherever it has been 
preached, has been found of mighty efficacy in the great work 
of salvation. It is Christ crucified, Christ rising from the 
dead, Christ living and reigning in glory, to make intercession 
for us, to form us after his image and fit us for his presence in 
heaven ; — this constitutes the grand peculiarity of the gospel ; 
and account for it as we may, the fact is unquestionable, that 
this peculiarity in the system of gospel truth possesses a power 
to subdue the heart of man and bring him back to holiness and 
God, which stamps with utter impotency and weakness, all the 
proud teachings of philosophy and speculations of man. 

Another element of power in the gospel is the influence 
of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is not a mere system of doc- 
trine and duty, of truth and motive. It has a power over and 
above all that appears in the letter, — the power of the Holy 



334 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 

Spirit. This divine Agent, in fulfilment of the promise of the 
Saviour, has come into the world, and in the execution of his 
official work, is abroad among the children of men, attending 
the ministration of the gospel with his own mighty energy, and 
raising up the dead in sin to a new and heavenly life. It is 
this emphatically which renders the gospel what it is declared 
to be, the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation. 
It is the means, the instrument, by which he operates, through 
the influence of the Spirit on the minds of men, enlightening, 
convincing, creating them anew in Christ and making them 
meet for his heavenly presence. I must add once more, — 

That another element of power in the gospel is the vast im- 
portance it attaches to our present state of being and to the 
scenes of eternity before us. Viewed in the light of the gospel 
there is not an object of creation nor an event of providence 
which is not full of deep and solemn interest. The world in 
which we live is a lost, yet redeemed world. It is under the 
government of Jesus Christ, who reigns over it to carry forward 
the great work of mediation and mercy. His providence is a 
providence of mediation, and all the blessings and privileges of 
life are the purchase of his blood and the gift of his grace. 
How important is life, and how solemn, when considered as a 
period of probation in which we are to be prepared for endless 
joy or wo in eternity ! How interesting and solemn too are the 
day and means of grace which we enjoy, and all the scenes 
through which we pass, whether prosperous or adverse, when 
viewed in their connection with eternity and the bearing they 
are to have upon our immortal destiny. And what an amazing 
interest does the gospel throw around the scenes of the last day, 
when we recollect that all its instructions, invitations, warnings 
and threatenings have reference to that day, and that the eternal 
condition of every human being is there made to depend on the 
manner in which he here treats the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 
a word, God and man, Christ and the Holy Spirit, the world 
and all things above, and around and beyond us, appear invested 
with supreme and most impressive interest, when contemplated 
in the light in which they are set before us in the gospel — bear- 
ing on our immortal destiny and deciding our condition for ever. 
These are some of the elements of power in the gospel, inde- 
structible, all-penetrating, all-pervading, and well do they entitle 
the gospel to be designated as the power of God unto salvation. 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 335 

3. We shall be still more impressed with the propriety of 
this appellation, if we consider for a moment, the effects actually 
produced by the gospel wherever it has been truly and faithfully 
preached. I might here appeal to individual examples, in count- 
less number, to show that the gospel has power to arrest the 
most careless and wicked in their sins, to convince of their lost 
and miserable estate as estranged from God, to make them new 
creatures in Christ and train them up for his kingdom and serv- 
ice. Paul himself was such an example. Proud, self-righteous, 
self-willed, a blasphemer and a persecutor; yet how completely 
was he changed by the power of the gospel! Rescued from 
his former state of impenitence and unbelief, he became an 
humble, devoted follower of the Saviour, meek, gentle, self-de- 
nying, wholly devoted to the service of his new Master; willing 
to spend and be spent in promoting that cause which he once 
labored to destroy. Whence this marvellous change ? It was 
wrought by the power of the gospel; and this example is placed 
on the sacred record, that it might stand in all time as a convincing 
proof that the gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation 
to every one that believeth. I cite this as an example, and yet 
it is only one among millions of like character that might be 
cited. Look at the three thousand converted on the day of 
Pentecost. A most unpromising and hopeless multitude when 
they came together to hear Peter preach. But suddenly they 
were arrested, convinced, and converted, and on the same day 
joined themselves to the Lord as his disciples. Could philoso- 
phy, in any form or ministration of it, have effected this happy 
and glorious change ? Could philosophy ever have banished idol- 
atry from the Roman empire, where it had held undisputed sway 
for centuries ; or could it in the brief space of thirty years have 
brought over to peace, to purity and joyful hope in God great 
multitudes of souls in different parts of the Jewish and Pagan 
world who were before servants of sin, and addicted to the 
basest crimes ? No ; philosophy had been tried for hundreds of 
years in this very work, and had proved itself utterly impotent. 
Philosophers complained that men were not improved under their 
instructions ; and Socrates, the wisest and the best of them, said 
— "We may give up all hope of reforming men till some one is 
sent from above to teach them." But Paul could say, addressing 
the Christians of Corinth, a city famous for the profligacy and 
vices of its inhabitants — " such were some of you ; but ye are 
washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the 
29* 



336 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 

Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God." "The doctrine of 
Christ," says a writer of those early times, "did convert the most 
wicked persons who embraced it, from all their debaucheries to 
the practice of all virtues." These effects of the gospel were 
not confined to primitive times. They have been witnessed 
wherever the gospel has been preached and believed. Its power 
has been tried and with complete success, in all climates, over 
all habits and dispositions, and with all classes of men. The 
king on his throne, the judge on his bench, the philosopher in 
his study, the commander at the head of his army, have yielded 
to the supremacy of the gospel, and together with the obscure,, 
the unlearned, and the rude, have owned its power in the sub- 
jection of their souls to Christ as their Saviour and King. The 
gospel has gone in among the ice-bound inhabitants of Green- 
land, among the degraded inhabitants of Southern Africa^ 
among the ferocious tribes of American Indians, among the 
voluptuous Asiatics, and the wild savages in the islands of the 
Pacific, and by the mere influence of its power, the power of 
truth and love, applied by the Holy Spirit, to the heart and 
mind, has led forth multitudes of disciples for the Lord Jesus. 
Look at the South Sea, the Society, and the Sandwich Islands. 
"Within our own times they were universally Pagan, having na 
altars but those of demons, no law but that of violence, no mor- 
als but those of unbridled passion. Crimes against nature, the 
murder of prisoners taken in war, the destruction of infants 
and the sacrificing of human victims prevailed throughout their 
population. What is the change? Where are now their idols? 
'In the museums of missionary societies, as trophies of the vic- 
tories of the Cross, or cast to the moles and the bats by those 
who once adored them. The whole plan and mould of society 
has been re-cast. The progress of civilization is visible in all 
domestic comforts and private afiairs, in wise laws and general 
order and peace; in agriculture, commerce, buildings, cleanli- 
ness, dress, manners, government; in schools and churches 
spread over the islands, and the gathering of the people to these 
institutions of instruction and salvation to learn the arts of life 
and the way to heaven.' 

Essentially the same effects have been produced by the gos- 
pel wherever it has been preached or has had time to gain a 
foothold among Pagan and unevangelized people. Is it not then 
of mighty power and able to subdue all things to itself? But 
to have a full view of our subject, we must advert — 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION. 337 

4. To the effects which the gospel is yet destined to produce 
in the state of the world. On this point I can not enlarge. 
But under the future reign of the gospel this whole world is to 
be converted to God. Idolatry in all its forms of pollution^ 
misery and crime, is to be swept from the earth. War with all 
its untold horrors is to come to an end. Slavery is every where 
to cease. Tyranny and oppression in every form are to lose 
their grasp on the rights of men, and give place to the univer- 
sal reign of justice, liberty and religion. Knowledge and vir- 
tue, peace and plenty, joy and salvation are every where to pre- 
vail, and the whole earth is to be full of the knowledge and 
glory of God as the waters cover the sea. The wilderness and 
the solitary place, the immense regions of Pagan and Moham- 
edan desolations, shall yet be glad for the blessings of the gos- 
pel, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Every 
nation and kindred shall be brought into captivity to the obedi- 
ence of Christ ; for the word hath gone forth from the mouth of 
the Lord — "I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And 
how is this mighty transformation to be effected ? Not by mir- 
acle ; not by any exertion of physical power, either by God or 
man ; but by the gospel of Christ spread abroad among the na^- 
tions, and made efficacious by the attending influence of the ' 
Holy Spirit. The victories of the gospel are not like those of 
the Moslem faith — effected by fire and sword — nor like those of 
Popery — effected by deceit and guile, or by pampering the ap- 
petites and gratifying the passions of men, holding them in io-- 
norance and superstition. They are victories of truth over er- 
ror, of light over darkness, of love over prejudice and enmity ; 
and when these victories shall spread, as they will spread over 
all the earth, then it will be universally confessed that the gos- 
pel is what it claims to be — the wisdom of God and the power 
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 

In bringing the subject to a close, I can only touch in the 
briefest manner on a few of the many practical reflections which 
it suojojests. And — 

DO 

1. The gospel bears on its face incontestible evidence of its 
being from God. Infidehty would have us believe that the gos- 
pel is a delusion, a fraud, the work of imposture and deception.. 
And what have we then? Why; a system of religion, pro- 
fessedly and obviously designed to illustrate the glory of God 
and promote the good of mankind; containing in itself elements ■ 



338 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OP GOD UNTO SALVATION. 

of moral influence of the most beneficent character, producing 
every where the happiest results, and tending ultimately and 
certainly to reform, elevate, and bless the whole family of man 
— all this the work of imposture, of deception and fraud prac- 
ticed on mankind by knaves and liars ! Who can believe this 
— who, but the credulous infidel ? Which is the most reasona- 
ble to believe, that a religion like that of the gospel is of divine 
origin, or that it was fabricated by hypocrites and deceivers, 
and palmed off on the world by artifice and cunning? Does 
light come from darkness, or truth from falsehood, or benevo- 
lence from selfishness ? Hear on this head the eloquent Ros- 
seau, who though an infidel and a profligate, felt constrained, 
for once, to speak the truth on this subject. " I will confess 
that the majesty and purity of the gospel strike me with admi- 
ration. Peruse the works of our philosophers with all their 
pomp of diction ; how contemptible are they compared with the 
Scriptures ! Is it possible that a book at once so simple and so 
sublime should be merely the work of man ? Is it possible that 
the sacred personage, whose name it records, should be himself 
a mere man ? What sweetness, what purity in his manner ! 
What sublimity in his maxims ! What profound wisdom in his 
discourses ! Where is the man, where is the philosopher, who 
could so live and so die, without weakness and without ostenta- 
tion ? If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, 
the life and death of Jesus were those of a god." And yet this 
same man who could speak thus eloquently respecting the purity 
and power of the gospel, and of the divine character of its au- 
thor, was constrained, by his vices and his vanity, to say — I 
can not believe the gospel. No wonder, when at the same time 
he was saying in his heart — I will not renounce my debaucheries. 
Ah, my friends, the only argument against the gospel which 
men can urge, is a depraved heart and a wicked life. He that 
doeth the will of God knows the gospel to be true by a strength 
of conviction which all the sophistry in the world can not shake. 
It is a conviction produced by the essential power of the gos- 
pel, enlightening the mind, renewing the heart and bringing the 
subject to the love of God and obedience to his will. 

2. It is a solemn thing to preach and to hear the gospel. The 
minister of Christ, whenever he meets his people to preach to 
them the' gospel, brings before them a message of mighty power ; 
a message which will prove to every one of them a savor of 
life unto life, or of death unto death ; the means of an eternal 



THE GOSPEL THE POWER OP GOD UNTO SALVATION. 339 

* weight of glory, or of an aggravated condemnation. There is 
ng avoiding this issue. The gospel is mighty both to save and 
to destroy, both to fit for heaven and also for hell. In its nature 
and design it is intended to renew, to sanxitify, to conform to the 
image of God and fit the soul for an eternal residence in his 
kingdom. But like other of God's gifts it may be perverted 
and abused, and then it operates, with terrible power, to blind^ 
to harden and form the soul into a vessel of wrath fitted for 
destruction. Well may every minister, while preaching the 
gospel, exclaim, in the language of the Apostle — who is suffi- 
cient for these things? and well may every hearer exclaim 
while listening to a preached gospel — how shall I escape, if 1 
neglect so great salvation ? It is a great privilege to preach 
the gospel, and a great privilege to hear it truly and faithfully 
preached ; but it is a privilege in either case connected with 
weighty responsibilities, and results must be njet in eternity. 
There is no agency on earth so important and momentous as 
that which is employed in preparing immortal souls for the de- 
cisions of the final judgment ; and there is no situation on earth 
so deeply solemn and critical as that men are placed in, when 
a power like that of the gospel is brought to bear upon them, 
the inevitable consequence of which must be to fit them for the 
endless happiness of heaven, or for the ceaseless woes of hell. 
And this is the work that is going on in this house whenever 
the gospel is proclaimed here and you are assembled to hear it. 
May we who preach and you who hear, my friends, ever bear 
it in mind that we are doing a work for eternity ; that results 
are recorded in God's book, and will be rehearsed at the last 
day, to the everlasting joy or sorrow of each one of us. 

3. How surprising, how alarming it is, that any should sit 
under the light of the gospel without yielding to its power to 
bring them to salvation. What that power is you have heard 
in the former part of this discourse. It is the power of truth 
and love, making their appeal to all the sen si bih ties and facul- 
ties of the human mind. It is the power of great principles 
and motives developed in the mediation of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and applied to the heart and conscience by the gracious 
influence of the Holy Spirit. In a word, it is the power of 
God, the power ordained of God, as the wisest and best that 
could be devised, to rouse men from their sins and bring them 
to repentance, to faith and holiness. How wonderful then, and 
how alarming, that any should so neglect and withstand this 



340 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OP GOD UNTO SALVATION. 

power as to turn aside all its benevolent, saving influences from ' 
themselves, and so fail of the immortal happiness for which it 
is adapted and designed to prepare them? Do you ask who 
does this ? You, my dear hearer, you, one and all, who are yet 
in a state of sin, unpardoned of God, and unsubdued by the 
power of his gospel to penitence, faith and love. Consider, 
then, what a heart you have dwelling within you ; a heart that 
resists the authority of your Father in heaven and all his infi- 
nite love and mercy in Christ ; a heart that disregards his invi- 
tations, his calls, his warnings, the lessons of his providence, 
and the strivings of his Spirit, and all this continued for years 
while life has been wearing away, and eternity, with all its sol- 
emn scenes, coming nearer, and still nearer to you. Say not 
this is untrue. Dear hearer, it is not untrue ; but is true every 
word of it in application to yourself, if you are yet impenitent, 
unsubdued to. the obedience of Christ. I ask you to look at 
the gospel, the gospel which has been preached to you ever 
since you was capable of understanding it ; and which is de- 
clared to be the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth, — what has this gospel done for you? It has not 
brought you to repentance, it has not made you a new creature 
in Christ, nor fitted you for his service and kingdom. And 
why has it failed of all iis appropriate effects in your case and 
left you still in your sins? Can any answer be given to this 
question which does not convict you of great sin, and prove 
that you have a heart within you, exceedingly hard, insensible 
and dead to all the tender and solemn claims of God's love and 
grace manifested to you in the gospel of Christ his Son ? 

4. In view of this subject let me urge upon all present, the 
duty of self-examination. To you, my friends, is granted the 
high privilege of enjoying the glorious gospel of the blessed 
God. It is a privilege denied to millions of your fellow men, 
and in every point of view is to be regarded as the most pre- 
cious of all the gifts by which a merciful God has distinguished 
your lot. What now is the use you have made of the gospel ; 
what have been its fruits in your own case ? Have you learnt 
from experience that it is indeed the power of God unto salva- 
tion? Its passing impulses you may have felt, but do you 
know it as an abiding power ? Its sublime truths may often 
have interested your intellects, and its touching appeals have 
moved your passions and its solemn claims have drawn from 
you a passing vow ; but do you know it as an indwelling prin- 



CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 341 

eiple, a transforming power? Has it united you to Christ by 
a living faith, has it given you peace in believing ; and a hope 
full of immortality, and under a grateful sense of the deliver- 
ance wrought for you by the gospel, are you leading a Chris-j 
tian life, seeking to honor your Redeemer and to advance his 
cause by living not to yourself, but to him who died for you and 
rose again ? These are the appropriate effects of the gospel. 
Are they realized in your own experience ? A spiritual power 
of some kind, you are always living under, whether you will or 
not. Your path through life lies in the midst of a scene in 
which every object and every event is constantly shedding on 
you an influence for evil or for good. But here is an instru- 
ment by which you can be saved, and the only instrument by 
which you can be saved ; this gospel, the glorious gospel of 
the blessed God ; why will ye not believe it ; yield to its holy 
power and be saved forever? Your soul's endless M^ell be- 
ing is at stake ; why will you peril its precious interests any 
longer ? Why ; and oh, let the question be seriously an- 
swered as in the presence of God, — why will ye die ; die with 
the gospel of salvation in your hand ? This day, breathe forth 
the earnest supplication ; O, let the gospel prove to be the 
power of God to my salvation. 



SERMON XXXI. 



CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 

Philippians ii : 16. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the 
day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. 

The Apostle Paul was hardly more solicitous for the conver- 
sion of sinners than he was for the advancement in holiness of 
all true believers. It was with him a matter of the greatest 



342 CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 

importance that all who name the name of Christ should walk 
worthy of their high vocation; that they should adorn the doc- 
trine of God their Saviour in all things, and advance from one 
degree of grace to another, till they attain the stature of perfect 
ones in Christ Jesus. Accordingly after having gathered and 
established churches in the different places where he preached 
the gospel, he continued still to feel for them the most tender 
and benevolent concern, visiting them in person as he had op- 
portunity, or when prevented from doing this, addressing to 
them letters of instruction, of encouragement and warning, that 
he might thus confirm their faith and quicken them in the dis- 
charge of their Christian duties. It was this benevolent wish 
to animate his fellow Christians in their heavenly course which 
dictated his epistle to the church of Philippi — an epistle dis- 
tinguished from most of his other writings, in that it contains 
no reprehension of errors and no reproof of ill-conduct in those 
to whom it was addressed, but breathes throughout a spirit of 
the warmest affection for the Philippian converts, and the most 
entire confidence in them as sincere Christians. At the time 
he wrote this letter to the Philippians he was a prisoner at 
Rome. He drew it up and sent it to them as a last, affectionate 
message from their spiritual father, now in bonds for Christ, 
and expecting soon to seal his love to the Saviour by the suffer- 
ings of martyrdom. In these circumstances he pours forth his 
heart in expressions of the greatest tenderness and love, and by 
a variety of the most touching and persuasive considerations 
urges those whom he had been instrumental in calling out of 
darkness into light to unwavering steadfastness in the cause of 
their Divine Master. 

In the chapter which contains our text he points them to the 
Saviour as their great exemplar in the divine life; he exhorts 
that the same mind be in them which was also in Christ Jesus ; 
that they should work out their salvation with fear and trem- 
bling; doing all things without murmurings and disputings, that 
so they might be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, shin- 
ing in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation as lights in 
the world. Then follows the text — Holding forth the word of 
life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run 
in vain, neither labored in vain. In discoursing from these 
words my simple object will be to explain and enforce the duty 
enjoined in them. 

I. What then is meant by holding forth the word of life? 



CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 343 

The language is figurative. The image presented to the mind 
is that of a standard-bearer, holding out an ensign to direct the 
march and animate the attack of soldiers in the day of battle. 
Or it is that of a man holding forth a clear light in the midst of 
surrounding darkness, to illuminate the path and direct the steps 
of others in the way of safety. Beza thinks there is in the text 
an allusion to those towers which in ancient times were built at 
the entrance of harbors, and on which fires were kept burning 
to direct ships into port. Thus understood the allusion is beau- 
tiful and striking. Christians are called, by a visible manifesta- 
tion of the word of life in their sentiments, temper, and 
conduct, to perform the angelic office of guiding dark and be- 
wildered souls into the path of life and salvation. They are to 
hold forth this word — the life-giving word of God — as a light 
to apprise fellow-travelers of the danger to which they are ex- 
posed, and to direct them in the way of safety as they pass on- 
ward to the close of their earthly journey. But we must be 
more particular. 

1. In the first place then, to hold forth the word of life is to 
hold it forth in its great and distinguishing doctrines. These 
lie at the foundation of all saving, fruitful religion; are the 
nerves and sinews of that word which is the great instrument 
of salvation to lost men ; and he who would comply with the 
exhortation of the text must hold forth these doctrines in a right, 
intelligent understanding of them; in an open, bold, and faithful 
defence of them whenever attacked, and in using all proper 
means to extend the knowledge of them throughout the world. 
The Bible must be his companion, his counselor and guide. 

. He must be familiar with its great truths and duties, and always 
ready to give every one that asketh him a reason of the hope 
that is in him. Such a Christian is a light to all about him. 
The word of life dwells in him as an inexhaustible source of 
divine knowledge; and while his own mind is enriched by the 
treasures of truth which lie possesses, he is looked up to by oth- 
ers as an intelligent Christian — as one who knows in whom he 
believes, and is able to state the grounds of his faith in the great 
doctrines of the gospel. 

2. To hold forth the word of life is to hold it forth in its 
spirit. This is altogether a peculiar sipivit. It distinguishes the 
gospel from every other system of religion on earth, and marks 
it to be of heavenly origin. It is a spirit of supreme love to 
God and impartial love to men ; a spirit of meekness, kindness, 

30 



344 CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 

forbearance and long-suffering ; of patience under trials, of for- 
giveness of injuries; of self-denial and of self-consecration to 
the glory of God and the good of mankind; a spirit, in short, 
that breathes peace on earth and good will to all who dwell upon 
it; such as shone forth in the life and death oC our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, 
that we through his poverty might be made rich; who, when 
reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not, 
but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, and 
prayed, even amidst the agonies of the cross, for his enemies: — 
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 

This is the spirit of the gospel, its life, its power, its glory; 
and what is required in our text is that Christians should pos- 
sess and manifest this spirit in the whole tenor of their life and 
conversation; so that if any wish to know what the spirit of 
the gospel is, they may be referred to its professors as living 
exemplifications of it. It must be seen that the love of God is 
in them an all-pervading principle of action, throwing its soft- 
ening, subduing influence over the whole man; and that their 
supreme and governing purpose in life is to glorify God their 
Redeemer, and promote the best interests of their fellow-men. 

3. To hold forth the word of life is to hold ic forth in its 
practice. The practice of the gospel is as peculiar as its spirit. 
It is entirely unlike the practice of the world — prompted by 
purer motives, regulated by nobler principles, and directed to 
higher and worthier ends. It is first of all a visible exhibition of 
piety towards God, maintaining daily communion with him, the 
Father of our spirits, and manifesting to all around an habitual, 
reverential regard to all his commands. It is living not unto our-, 
selves, but unto him who died for us and rose again; it is seek- 
ing not the things which are seen and temporal, but the things 
which are unseen and eternal; it is running the race set before 
us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith ; it 
is denying ourselves, taking up the cross and following Christ 
in a life of holy obedience, making him our example and guide; 
causing all the lines of life to meet and centre in him, and all 
our plans and pursuits to have primary reference to him, to his 
will and glory, to the honor of his name, and the advancement 
of his kingdom of truth and holiness. 

Such is the practice enjoined in the gospel ; a living illustra- 
tion of the doctrines and duties of the gospel; and he who 



CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 345 



• 



would hold forth the word of life must aim to exemplify this 
practice in the whole tenor of his conduct. ^M 

4. I must add, that to hold forth the word of life is tofhold 
it forth, in all the particulars just named, eminently, conspicuously^ 
so as to distinguish you from the mass of the world, and cause 
them to mark you as one who has been with Jesus. To hold 
forth a thing is to make it manifest, visible, so as to attract the 
notice and engage the attention of others. So in holding forth 
the word of life, Christians are to make it entirely evident to 
all who see or know them that they believe the doctrines, pos- 
sess the spirit and exemplify the practice of the gospel. They 
are to do this in such a manner as shall cause them to stand out 
from the world, and induce all who behold them to mark them 
as a peculiar people. Distinction, eminence, visibility of holi- 
ness — this is the main thing intended in our text. It is that you 
make your religion — the religion of the Bible — manifest to the 
world, so that any one beholding your example may know what 
that religion is — may have a fair representation of the spirit 
and tendency of the gospel of Christ. This is what our Saviour 
means when he says — Let your light so shine before men that 
they may see your good works and glorify your Father which 
is in heaven. " But nothing can be said to shine but that which 
throws out a distinguished lustre, in comparison with other ob- 
jects. Those who are but as other men, and do no way excel 
the world around them, can not possibly bring any honor to 
their profession, or be properly said to make their light shine." 
It is eminence which is here demanded — something that shall 
distinguish you from others, and operate to attract their atten- 
tion and fix their eyes upon you. Hence our Saviour says of 
true Christians — Ye are the light of the world. A city set on 
an hill can not be hid. You occupy a conspicuous station; the 
eyes of the world are attracted towards you. Therefore let 
your light shine. Hence too, in the context, the Apostle ex- 
horts the Christians of Philippi to be blameless and harmless, 
the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and 
perverse nation, among whom, he says, ye shine as hghts in the 
world. The inhabitants of Philippi and of all the surrounding 
region were involved in the darkness of heathenism and sin. 
The little church in that city and the various members of it 
were lights shining in the midst of this darkness, reflecting, from 
their own character and example, the beams of heavenly light 
falling upon them from the Sun of Righteousness. And the ob- 



346 CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 

ft 

ject of the exhortation in our text was to excite them and all 
other Christians to abound more and more in this divine work,, 
so to hold forth the word of life in their sentiments, in their 
spirit and conduct, as to illustrate to the view of all around them 
the glory and excellence of the gospel; and thus to lead all, at- 
tracted by its heavenly light, as reflected from their own shining 
example, to follow them up the bright and luminous pathway of 
heaven. 

Let me now, as proposed, 

11. Present a few motives adapted to enforce the duty of 
holding forth the word of life. 

1. In the first place then, this is demanded by the nature and 
design of the gospel. The doctrines, the spirit and the prac- 
tice of the gospel are, in their very nature, peculiar and dis- 
tinguishing. Separation from the world, holiness unto the 
Lord form their essential character ; and their great design is 
to impress this character on all who profess the religion of 
Christ. The grand aim of the gospel ; the point to which all 
its doctrines, duties, promises and threatenings are directed, is 
to gather out of this apostate world a peculiar people ; a people 
sanctified unto the Lord, bearing his image and reflecting his 
glory in the midst of surrounding darkness and sin. Just so 
far then, as you are consecrated to God, in heart and life, just 
so far as you are separated from the world by the purity of 
your principles and the holiness of your conduct, do you illus- 
trate the nature of the gospel and show forth its great and ul- 
timate design. On the other hand, just so far as you come 
short of doing this, just so far as you are conformed to the 
world in your temper and practice, and live according to its 
customs and manners, you give a false representation of the gos- 
pel and counteract the end for which Christ died and gave you 
his gospel. 

I must add in this connection, that as professors of Christ's 
religion, it is justly expected and required of you, that your 
lives should be a practical illustration of its spirit and tendency. 
The world expect and demand this of you ; their eyes are upon 
you and they will form their views of the gospel very much 
from the manner in which it is exhibited in your conduct and 
conversation. What then will be the consequence if you fail 
to hold forth the word of life ? What if you are cold in your 
affections, inconstant and formal in duty, worldly and selfish in 
your pursuits, or unexemplary and unworthy in your life ? 



CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 347 

Why, you practically declare that such is the religion of Christ; 
such the nature and effects of his gospel, and thus you bring 
dishonor upon the holy name by which you are called, and lead 
your dying fellow men to neglect and despise the only remedy 
that can save them from eternal death. 

2. Holding forth the word of life is the best possible means 
of high Christian enjoyment. The happiest Christians are 
those who live nearest to God and exhibit most of the spirit of 
his gospel in their temper and lives. Such Christians are 
rarely troubled with doubts, as to their good estate. They 
have the witness in themselves ; and feel a joyful assurance 
that God is their Father and portion. Christ is their Redeem- 
'er and Friend ; the Holy Ghost their Comforter and guide, 
and heaven their eternal home. And the blessedness of such 
assurance, none but he that feels it knows. There is no peace 
like the peace of God that passeth understanding; no hope 
like the hope full of immortality ; no joy like the joy of God's 
salvation; and no support in trials like that which is derived 
from the consciousness of possessing the spirit and hopes of the 
gospel. Now the way to make these blessings your own is 
very plain. Live in a practical conformity to Christ and they 
are yours. Come up to the demand of our text ; holding forth 
the word of life in a consistent, uniform exemplification of its 
spirit and practice, and the promise of God is pledged that he 
will own you as sons and daughters ; that he will feed you with 
the hidden manna, cause you to walk in the light of his coun- 
tenance, and to rejoice always in hope of his glory. 

3. If you would be eminently useful to your fellows, in no 
way can you so readily become so, as by holding forth the 
word of life. Every person is likely to prove himself a bless- 
ing to others, very much according to the measure in which he 
possesses and manifests the spirit of the gospel. However ob- 
scure his birth, or humble his station, if the word of life dwells 
in him as a living principle of action, and is held forth in an 
example of holy devotedness to God, he will shine as a light in 
the world, and others, seeing his good works, will be led to 
glorify his Father who is in heaven. 

Look at this man in his family, with a circle of immortal be- 
ings around him; he does not neglect their eternal interests 
through indifference or worldliness ; he feels his responsibility 
to them and to God ? and while he faithfully endeavors to train 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, his in- 
30* 



348 CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 

structions, his counsels and prayers are all enforced by a holy,. 
Christian example. He is to his family a living illustration of 
the excellence and worth of true religion ; they see it in his 
life, they hear it in his words, they feel it in his every-day in- 
fluence, and they become a family of religion, following him, 
their pattern and guide, up the shining way to glory. 

Look at this man as a member of the church ; how health- 
ful his influence, how diff"usive his spirit, how fervent and pre- 
vailing his prayers ; he is a comfort to his brethren, an efficient 
helper of his pastor, an honor to the sacred cause he has es- 
poused. Look at him in the social circle, or in the daily inter- 
course of life ; you are in no danger of mistaking him for a mere 
man of the world; his light shines upon all around him; it is 
at once seen what he is ; his words, his actions, his whole char- 
acter bespeak the holy principles that reign within, and diffuse 
a kindly, healthful influence in whatever circle he moves. Sup- 
pose a church to be composed of such members, all devotedly 
pious ; all living for God and heaven ; all holding forth the 
word of life and shining as lights in the world, and what a 
mighty influence would go forth from its combined efforts and 
prayers to enlighten and save sinners and spread abroad the 
triumphs of a Saviour's love. Such a church would indeed 
be as a ci y set on an hill, that could not be hid; a light like 
that of the sun rising upon a dark and benighted world. 

And here let me remark in passing, that the whole moral 
power of a church, its power to exert a holy, elevating influ- 
ence in the community where it exists, consists in its possessing 
a distinctive character ; in its standing out from the world and 
reflecting clearly the light that falls upon it from the Sun of 
Righteousness. In this character it will attract attention ; it 
will be looked at as a bright light shining in darkness, and an 
influence will go forth from its sacred inclosure to enlighten, to 
elevate and save lost souls. Destroy this distinctive charac- 
ter, bring down the church to a level with the world, and its 
power for good is gone. It can exert no influence in favor of 
truth and righteousness, and exists only a baleful meteor, to 
misguide, corrupt and destroy. 

The same is true of each member of a church. His influ- 
ence on the cause of religion, is salutary or otherwise, just in 
proportion as he comes out from the world, or is conformed to 
it. If you are like the world, like them in sentiment, spirit 
and practice, why, then, your influence is with the world and. 



CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 349 

your example as a Christian is lost, or rather, is only for evil. 
It is only when you take an open and decided stand in religion ; 
it is only when you come out from the mass and are plainly dis- 
tinguished from them in your principles of action, in your feel- 
ings, pursuits and hopes ; it is only when you hold forth the 
gospel in your life, and can say to those around you, come fol- 
low me and go to heaven, that your Christian example is felt 
and operates to advance the glory of Christ and the salvation 
of men. 

4. Another motive I must urge ; it is the one mentioned by 
the Apostle in our text, — That I may rejoice in the day of the 
Lord Jesus, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. 
Paul knew well that the success of his ministry depended much 
on the co-operation of his fellow Christians ; on their exempli- 
fying, in temper and conduct, the holy gospel which he 
preached to them ; and in prospect of the coming of Christ to 
call him to account, he exhorts them to hold forth the w^ord of 
life, that in that great and dreadful day, he might rejoice in the 
fruits of his ministrations. 

Permit me, my brethren, to urge upon you the same exhor- 
tation. The success of the ministry among you, depends 
greatly upon the manner in which you live as professors of re- 
ligion. If an angel from heaven were to preach the gospel on 
the Sabbath, he would labor in vain, if the members of the 
church were all the week contradicting his preaching by 
■worldly and careless lives. It is only when a minister has the 
zealous and faithful co-operation of the members of his church ; 
it is only when he can appeal to them, as living illustrations of 
the truth and power of religion ; appeal to them, as Paul did to 
the Christians of his day, as the epistles of Christ, manifestly 
declared to be such, written, not with ink, but with the spirit of 
the living God, seen and read of all men, — it is only when he 
can make this appeal in the sight of an unbelieving world and 
have none to gainsay or contradict it, that the gospel, as minis- 
tered by him is hkely to prove the power of God to the salva- 
tion of sinners. 

My dear, Christian friends, give this consideration its due 
weight. The success of the gospel in this congregation de- 
pends on your holding it forth in your lives. All my preaching, 
all my labors will be in vain without this. 

In view then, of the day of Christ, and in prospect of meet- 
ing you, and all this assembly, before his bar, let me beseech 



350 A minister's experience 

you to live the gospel which I am called to preach unto you ; 
show forth its excellence, in well-ordered lives and conversa- 
tion ; be blameless, be harmless, the sons of God without re- 
buke in the midst of this generation, shining among them as 
lights in the world, that so in the day of the Lord Jesus, when 
we shall all stand before him to give account, I may rejoice 
that I have not run in vain neither labored in vain. With 
your eye fixed on the solemnities of that day, the motives now 
presented must prevail. That day is at hand. May I ever 
preach and you ever hear and live in view of it. Then will 
the gospel ministered here become mighty through God to the 
salvation of souls. Influences from on high will descend to 
give effect to the word of the Lord and to the ordinances of his 
grace. Christians will be edified in their holy faith and be 
daily growing into a likeness to Christ. Sinners will be awak- 
ened, converted and saved ; and thus a generation raised up to 
fill our places, and to sustain here the cause of truth and piety, 
when we shall have gone to join the general assembly and 
church of the first born in heaven. There, on Mount Zion, 
amidst the songs of salvation and the joys of an unclouded 
heaven, may pastor .and people finally meet ; meet to rejoice 
together in beholding the fruits of mutual labors and prayers j 
meet to be each other's joy and crown of rejoicing during eter- 
nal ages before /he throne of God and the Lamb. 



SERMON XXXII. 

A minister's experience confrming the truth 
OP his doctrines. 

Philippians 3 : 18. For many walk of whom I have told you often, and 
now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 

When the Apostle Paul penned this scripture he was far 
advanced in life, and had spent some thirty years as a preacher 



CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF HIS DOCTRINES. 351 

of the gospel. He had thus acquired a large experience in the 
ministry, and had gathered abundant evidence of the truth of 
the doctrines which he preached. He saw that men were just 
as depraved and sinful as he had declared them to be, and just 
as much disposed to embrace a false hope and think themselves 
Christians, when, in fact, they were enemies of the cross of 
Christ and heirs of wrath. Of this we have an affecting ex- 
emplification in the text. The persons referred to were, no 
doubt, professors of religion. While the Apostle was with 
the Philippians, ministering the gospel among them, he had 
often spoken to them of this class of persons ; he had des- 
cribed their character and pointed out their end; and now, 
when many years had passed away, and he was writing an 
epistle to the church at Philippi, he refers again to the same 
persons, and intimates that he still held the same opinion 
in relation to their character and their end. His experi- 
ence had gone to confirm the truth of what he had formerly 
said respecting the sin and danger of those, who, while they 
professed to be Christians, were in fact in a state of sin and 
condemnation. He therefore referred to their case again, and 
with increased tenderness and concern. He even ■wept while 
speaking of their condition and their doom. 

But not to dwell on the text in its primary application, I 
shall take occasion from it to address you on a subject which 
has much occupied my thoughts in the course of my ministry, 
and which I deem of great practical importance. It is this, — 
A minister's experience confirming the truth of his doctrines. 
This subject I shall venture to illustrate with special reference 
to my own experience in the ministry. 

It is now over forty-nine years since I commenced preaching 
the gospel in this city. During that period I have had large 
opportunity, here and elsewhere, to notice the workings of the 
human heart under the ministration of God's truth ; and my 
present design is to specify some of the leading doctrines on 
which I have insisted, and to show how my experience in the 
ministry has gone to confirm the truth of those doctrines. 

1. I have preached the doctrine of man's entire moral de- 
pravity by nature, and his absolutely lost condition as a sinner. 
The time was when I disbelieved this doctrine and regarded the 
preaching of it with indifference and dislike. That was when 
I neglected the Bible and the Sabbath and prayer, and w^as an 
impenitent, irreligious young man. But when it pleased God,, 



352 A minister's experience 

as I trust, to open my eyes and show me to myself, I received 
a deep impression of the exceeding sinfuhiess of the human 
heart, and of man's utter ruin as a sinner against God. And 
from that day to the present, my conviction of this fact has 
been continually gaining strength. I felt the truth of it in my 
own anxious religious inquiries ; I found it plainly taught in the 
word of God ; it was impressed upon me anew in my study of 
theology ; I saw it exemplified in the conduct of men, in what- 
ever situation they were placed ; and in the whole course of my 
ministry, I have never seen the least occasion to qualify or re- 
strain the impression I first received respecting the deep deprav- 
ity and complete ruin of man, in his natural, unregenerated state. 
On the contrary, the longer I have lived, the more I have studied 
the Bible, and the more I have become acquainted with the hu- 
man heart, the deeper has been my conviction that the love of 
God has entirely ceased from it, that man is by nature estranged 
from God, an enemy by wicked works and dead in trespasses 
and sins. 

I have not indeed been insensible of the kind and amia- 
ble qualities which I have seen in many of my fellow men. I 
have not been disposed to undervalue or to overlook generosity, 
or integrity, or public spirit, or gentleness of disposition, or re- 
finement of manners, or whatever other commendable and use- 
ful qualities of character any may have exhibited. Much of 
all this have I seen, and much have I commended all this when- 
soever and in whomsoever seen. But I have not been able to 
blind my eyes to the fact that in the midst of all that is kind 
and gentle and honorable and lovely in human nature, there 
may be, and often is, a spirit of deep and immovable ungodli- 
ness, an habitual disregard of Christ and his salvation, and an 
utter neglect of all the serious duties of experimental religion. 
In very numerous cases have I seen this exemplified in the 
course of my ministry, — persons of amiable disposition, of cor- 
rect morals, of cultivated taste, and fine intelligence, and these 
of both sexes, sitting year after year under the preaching of 
tbe gospel, as unmoved as the seats on which they sat ; put- 
ting from them, in perfect indifference or dislike, the claims of 
the Saviour's love, and growing up from childhood to youth, 
and from youth to mature age, entirely neglectful of God and 
the interests of their immortality. 0, how often have I seen 
this in the course of my ministerial experience ; and whenever 
I have seen it, the effect has been to give me a still deeper im- 
pression of the great evil of sin ; of its terrible power to alien- 



CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OP HIS DOCTRINES. 353 

ate the heart from God and set the creature in a posture of 
hostility to his Creator. 

Another fact which I have often had occasion to notice, is, 
that whenever any of the class of persons just described, or of 
any other class, have been awakened to a serious concern for 
their salvation, they have always been ready to confess their 
guilt and ruin in the sight of God. No matter how pure or in- 
nocent or safe they may have thought themselves before, the 
moment the Spirit of God visited them with his awakening and 
convicting influence, all their fancied goodness and security 
were removed, and they were ready to confess that they were 
indeed poor, and guilty, and lost. And now, when I look over 
the congregation and see what numbers are here in their natural, 
unregenerated state, I cannot repress the painful conviction that 
whatever else they may possess, they have not the love of God 
dwelling in them, that they are utterly ruined in sin and ex- 
posed to a righteous condemnation ; nor have I doubts from my 
past experience, that should it please God to arrest the atten- 
tion of this class of persons, and show them the plague of their 
hearts, their true state and character, they would confess the 
truth of what I now say, would renounce their present false 
sentiments and false security, and fly to the cross of Christ as 
their only refuge from a righteous condemnation. 

2. Another truth to which I have given much prominency 
in my preaching, is that while man is by nature utterly ruined 
in sin, there can be no permanent, fruitful religion, which is not 
based on a change of heart, wrought by the Holy Spirit. This 
too, is a doctrine which I early embraced, after I began seri- 
ously to reflect on the subject, and the truth of it has been con- 
firmed by every year's experience in the ministry. Such is 
the state of the natural heart that it will not yield fruit unto 
God till it is renewed by his Spirit. You cannot make flowers 
grow in the snow, nor gather a harvest of wheat amid the arid 
sands of the desert. No more can you make holiness and re- 
ligion grow and bear fruit in the cold, barren heart of unre- 
newed man. You may, to some extent, effect an external reform- 
ation ; you may garnish the outside and persuade to a decent ob- 
servance of the forms of religion. But this is all you can do. 
You can not inspire the heart with the love of God, nor with 
a penitent hatred of sin and a liearty renunciation of it ; you 
can not make the yoke of Christ seem easy and his burden 
light to one who has not been made a new creature in Christ ; 



354 A minister's experience 

nor can you make one steadfast and happy in the Christian 
life, so long as the old heart of stone remains in the bosom. 
Experience and observation, to say nothing of the Scriptures, 
have taught me a lesson on this subject, which I can never for- 
get. I have seen persons, under the influence of various 
causes, much interested in the subject of religion, and for a 
time appearing well ; but having like the stony ground hearers, 
no root in themselves, no principle of holiness in the heart, no 
work of the Spirit wrought within, they endured for a sea- 
son and then fell away ; either becoming open apostates, or 
resting in a mere profession without the power of godhness. 
The religion of fashion, the religion of form, the religion of de- 
cent observance may exist, and even flourish, where there is no 
true love to God in the heart, and no work of the Holy Spirit 
within ; but the religion which saves the soul, which assimilates 
to Christ and delights in doing his will, the religion, in a word, 
which is penitent, humble, prayerful, grateful, self denying and 
self consecrating, this religion can never grow, can never flour- 
ish but in connection with a heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, 
and continually kept alive and refreshed by the dews of his 
grace. Of this I have an unwavering conviction, derived not 
from speculation, or a theoretical study of divinity, but from 
my whole experience and observation in the ministry. Per- 
sons, however fair their appearance, or promising their profes- 
sion for a time, will be inconstant, unstable, unfruitful in God's 
service and unhappy in it too, so long as they are strangers to 
that work of the Holy Spirit, by which alone the heart is re- 
newed and the soul made meet for heaven. 

On the other hand, such as know what that work is from the 
experience of it, such as have been renewed in the spirit of 
their minds by divine grace, and united to Christ by a faith of 
God's producing, will be steadfast and persevering ; they enter 
the path of the just ; they walk in it with increasing constancy 
and delight, and finally come off conquerers and more than 
conquerors through him that loved them. These facts which 
have been continually multiplying under my observation during 
my ministry, have not only convinced me of the reality of a 
change of heart produced by God's Spirit, but of its indispen- 
sable necessity in order to all constancy and fruitfulness in 
religion. 

3. I have preached that as the heart is deceitful above all 
things, as well as desperately wicked, so we can not know, with 



CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF HIS DOCTRINES. 355 

certainty, who are Christians until they are tried, and fre- 
quently our best expectations, in regard to individuals, are en- 
tirely disappointed. I was much more disposed to trust to ap- 
pearances and professions in the early part of my ministry than 
I now am. Then, if I saw any, who appeared to be awakened, 
and subsequently expressing a hope of conversion ; especially, 
if I saw them much engaged and zealous in religion, I was 
ready to conclude that they had passed the great change, and 
had truly entered the path of life. I knew indeed there was 
danger of self-deception ; I taught this in my preaching, and 
endeavored to guard my hearers against mistaking the founda- 
tion of their hopes. But while experience has confirmed the 
truth of all I ever preached on that point, it has also taught me 
that the danger of being deceived is much greater than I was 
aware. Especially has it taught me how extremely unable we 
are to know the heart, or to decide with certainty, who are true 
Christians until they have been tried. 

Look at a tree full of blossoms in the spring season ; — all 
appear fair and promising. But wait a few weeks and a large 
proportion, perhaps, will have fallen off. while only a few will 
remain to be ripened into fruit. Just so it is with spiritual 
blossoms ; you can not tell which will be blighted, and which 
endure. The tares and the wheat, when they first spring from 
the ground, look so much alike, that the most practiced eye can 
hardly distinguish them. The seed which fell on stony places 
readily sprung up and for a time, appeared as well and prom- 
ised as rich a harvest, as that which fell on good ground. But 
having no depth of earth, it withered when the sun shone upon 
it, and it brought forth no fruit to maturity. So have I often 
seen it in the field which I have been called to cultivate. I 
have seen the fairest and most promising plants wither and die 
under my hand ; while others, which at first seemed so feeble 
that I scarcely expected to raise them, have grown to be vigor- 
ous and abundantly fruitful. Or to change the figure, I have 
seen many who at the commencement of their course, seemed 
to run well, and promised fair to reach the goal and take the 
crown ; but after a time they were hindered by some unex- 
pected obstructions, turned back and blasted all hope of their 
salvation. Others, again, who, on setting out in the Christian 
life, seemed timid, and hardly dared to hope that they were 
Christ's disciples, have held on their way, waxing stronger and 

31 



356 A minister's experience 

stronger, till* they have appeared among the most established 
and useful members of the church. 

I have stated these two extreme examples. But between 
them, I have seen almost every degree and shade of difference 
among those who, on setting out in the Christian course, prom- 
ised equally well, — some holding out faithful unto the end, oth- 
ers turning back, others stopping midway, and others so incon- 
stant, so unstable as to make it extremely doubtful whether 
they would not at last come short of the mark and lose the 
prize. When I have seen this, as I often have, I have been 
powerfully reminded of the words of Paul, " Judge nothing be- 
fore the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light 
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the 
counsels of the heart." The human heart is a deep mystery. 
Its springs of action are exceedingly complicated and hidden ; 
and none but God can know it in all its secret windings of mo- 
tive, purpose and conduct. We can know but little of our 
own hearts ; much less can we know the hearts of others. I 
have sometimes seen the most surprising changes in the char- 
acter of individuals. After having appeared well for a number 
of years, they have, on being brought into a change of circum- 
stances, subjected to some new trial, suddenly developed a 
character, entirely unlike what they had before manifested, and 
all my hopes respecting them have been most painfully disap- 
pointed. The practical effect of this on my mind has been, not 
to make me doubt, either the reality or the importance of 
experimental religion, but to give me a deeper impression of 
the extreme deceitfulness of the heart, to make me cautious in 
judging of others, and to show me how absolutely necessary it 
is that we all be humble and watchful, lest we mistake our own 
character and finally fail of the crown of life. 

I will here remark in passing, that among the causes of fail- 
ure in the Christian course, which blight early Christian hope 
and render the life barren of spiritual fruitfulness, incau- 
tious, unsuitable conformity to the spirit and customs of the 
world, I have always found, to be the most common, and the 
most dangerous. There is a secret influence here, of the dead- 
ening power of which, few professors of religion are adequately 
aware. They set out in the divine life with tender, lively affec- 
tions, and with a sincere purpose to live near to God and to 
honor him in all their ways. But ere long the world puts forth 
its enticements, and draws them into one compliance, and then 



CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF HIS DOCTRINES. 357 

into another, and then another till they come to the very verge 
of what is positively forbidden and sinful, and there, like Bun- 
yan's pilgrim on the enchanted ground, their heads soon become 
so giddy, their minds and their hearts so bewildered, that they 
are in extreme clanger of making shipwreck of a good con- 
science, or at least of settling down, as mere formal, worldly- 
minded professors. 0, how often have my hopes in regard to 
young converts been disappointed in this way ! Would that I 
could impart to all whom I now address, the results of my ob- 
servation and experience in this matter ! Sure I am it would 
make them far more careful, than many are, to shun even the 
appearance of evil, and always anxious to keep themselves un- 
spotted from the world. 

4. I have always preached, and the truth of my preaching 
in this respect, has been confirmed by my whole experience, 
that, persons usually die very much as they have lived. I have 
never held out the least encouragement to any of my hearers, 
to put off preparation for death till the close of life, in the hope 
that the requisite preparation may then be made. Nor have I 
ever said a word which, rightly understood, would lead profess- 
ing Christians to flatter themselves, that although they be un- 
watchful and worldly-minded in life, they shall have peace and 
hope in the dying hour. On the contrary, I have always be- 
lieved and preached that those who neglect religion in the days 
of health and activity, expose themselves to the greatest dan- 
ger of being left to die in hopeless impenitence and sin ; and 
that professing Christians who live at a distance from God, and 
are formal in their religion, are likely to come to the closing scene 
in great darkness and doubt as to the foundation of their hope, 
and usually die under a cloud, giving no comfortable evidence 
as to where they have gone. Of this I have often told you, 
and now tell you again, that all I have ever said to you on this 
subject is confirmed by my experience. 

People do die very much as they have lived. I have known 
but very few who neglected religion till they came upon a sick 
and dying bed, who then gave any evidence of being prepared 
for death ; and what of evidence even these few may have 
given, long observation has taught me to regard with great dis- 
trust. So those professing Christians who have been unduti- 
ful and unwatchful in life, I have almost invariably found dark 
and comfortless on the bed of death. It has made me sad to 
visit them in the closing scene, and still more sad to see the 



358 A minister's experience 

grave close over their mortal remains ; for I saw that God was 
withholding from them the light of his countenance in their last 
extremity, and it was painfully doubtful how it would fare with 
them in eternity. On the other hand, I have found, with very 
rare exceptions, and those resulting from the power of disease, 
that such Christians as have kept near to God in life have 
found him near to them in death. His presence and his prom- 
ises came home to them as a refreshing cordial, when heart 
and flesh were failing them, and all seemed bright and cheer- 
ing, as they were about to close their eyes on this world to 
open them in another. Many such have I seen die, and I have 
felt it was good to linger around the dying scene ; for there I 
learnt the power and excellence of religion, and saw how faith- 
ful God is to t-hem who fear and love his name. The experi- 
ence I have had in scenes like these I account among the rich- 
est treasures I have gathered from my ministry. Nothing has 
tended more to endear the gospel to my heart or convince me 
of the reality of experimental religion, than the calm, peaceful 
end of watchful and faithful Christians ; and nothing has given 
me a deeper impression of the folly and guilt of an irreligious, 
worldly life, than the emptiness and stupidity, than the dark- 
ness and hopelessness which are wont to mark the close of 
such a life. 

Another thing I may mention in this connection, on which I 
have constantly insisted in my ministry. It is this. Youth is 
by far the most hopeful period for obtaining salvation, and those 
who neglect to seek salvation then are very likely to neglect it 
always. This has been repeated in your hearing hundreds of 
times in different forms, and the truth of it has been confirmed 
by the experience of my whole ministry. A very great pro- 
portion of all who have given evidence of piety under my 
preaching, gave their hearts to God while young. Only a few, 
a very few in comparison, have I known called into the king- 
dom of grace past twenty-five or thirty years of age. So uni- 
form has been my experience in this matter — and it accords 
with the experience of other ministers — that when I see persons 
passing on through the period of youth neglectful of Christ and 
his salvation, I feel constrained to look upon them with extreme 
concern. They seem to me to be turning their back upon the 
mercy of God, and bidding farewell to heaven. They may be 
saved, but the chances are fearfully against them. I say this 
to the young now before me, and I beg you, my dear youthful 



CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF HIS DOCTRINES. 359 

friends, to remember that I speak from many years' experience 
and observation, when I say that you now enjoy the most favor- 
able season you will ever have for seeking the friendship of 
God, the salvation of your souls ; and if you pass this period in 
impenitence and neglect of the Saviour, there is great reason 
to apprehend that you will never enter into life. 0, to how 
many in the morning of life, have I, during the years I have 
spent here in the ministry, lifted up my voice and cried — Behold 
now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation; 
and how many disregarding that voice have hastened on, fearless 
of consequences, into the busy concerns of the world, who have 
long since gone down to the dead, unmeet for heaven, or still 
survive only to fill up the measure of their, sins and fit them- 
selves for destruction. May the youth whom I now address 
act a wiser part — hear God's inviting voice in their tender age, 
and enter betimes into the path of peace and salvation. 

5. I remark again that while the word and the providence of 
God have been continually preaching to you that you live in a 
changing and dying world, my ministry has aimed to inculcate 
the same lesson, and I need not say how all has been confirmed 
by experience. Here, standing on my watch-tower, I have 
lifted up my voice and cried from year to year — " All flesh is 
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. 
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the breath of 
the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The 
grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God 
shall endure for ever." So have I preached, and so has been 
the voice of experience. O how many changes have passed 
under my eye since first I began to proclaim here the messages 
of God! How many the names of the young men who have 
sought fame and been disappointed! How numerous the sighs 
and sorrows that have come to my ears on every side from those 
who have sought happiness in worldly pursuits and enjoyments, 
and have been disappointed ! I have preached again and again 
that true and satisfying happiness is not to be had 'in the things 
of the world; and so I have found it. " I have seen men aspir- 
ing to be rich, but I have never seen any satisfied with riches. 
I have seen men aspiring to honor, but I have never seen any 
satisfied or happy in the possession of honor. So I have seen 
the young, the gay, and the giddy, seeking happiness in the 
brilliant assembly, in the places of mirth, of fashion and pleas- 
ure; but I have never known any who found what they sought 
31* 



360 A minister's experience 

in this way." No ; true happiness, such as satisfies the longings 
of the soul, can not be found in these things ; and many have I 
known who, after having made the trial, have turned away in 
disappointment, and in sighs and tears, crying out — " The world, 
the world has ruined me." 

I have preached to you likewise that all must die; and how 
melancholy the testimony of experience to this fact? How 
great and how sorrowful a funeral procession it would be if all 
this congregation should be laid in coffins and conveyed to their 
graves on some day of this week! And yet I have buried a 
much larger congregation than this since I came among you as 
a minister. Whole families have I seen broken up by the un- 
sparing hand of death; whole streets vacated of their inhabit- 
ants, and the whole aspect of society around me changed. As 
it has been in times past, so it will be in time to come. Death 
will continually be carrying on his work among us, and ere long 
all who are here in these seats to-day will be dead and gone to 
their final home. O that this solemn truth might be deeply im- 
pressed on our minds, and we be ready for our departure when- 
ever the summons shall come. 

I have spoken of the lessons of experience as confirming the 
lessons of my preaching. But there are some truths on which 
I have insisted much and frequently in my ministry, which as 
yet have received no confirmation from our experience. I refer 
to such as relate to scenes beyond the grave — to judgment and 
eternity, to heaven and hell. I have preached that all must die, 
and all, as we see, do die. I have preached too that after death 
cometh the judgment, and judgment will come. Its certainty is 
recorded in God's book, and it will come as surely as the day of 
our death will come. And as the result of the judgment, the 
whole race of man — all who have lived or shall live till the end 
of time — will be fixed in their eternal dwelling-place — the right- 
eous in heaven, the wicked in hell — and thus this world's great 
drama will be closed. So I have firmly believed; so I have 
taught in the whole course of my ministry. I have constantly 
aimed to leave the impression on my hearers, that whatever they 
do here is a seed for eternity; that heaven or hell awaits every 
human being as the result of his probation in this world, and of 
his trial on the last great day. The confirmation of experience 
is yet to come. But it will come, and it may come much sooner 
than we are aware. It is only for God to stop the breath, which 
be may do any moment, and instantly eternity opens, and heaven 



MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 361 

and hell stand revealed as present realities. Are you prepared, 
my friends, to await the testimony of experience in relation to 
these great and solemn scenes? Where would that testimony 
find you, were you to be summoned to meet it in your present 
state and character? Would it find you saved or lost, in heaven 
or in hell? What is now future will soon be present; and O 
that all who hear me may be prepared by a true repentance 
and a vital union to Christ by faith, to have experience teach 
them how glorious a thing it is to be saved, and to dwell for 
ever in heaven, and no one be left to learn from experience how 
fearful a thing it is to neglect the salvation of Christ and be lost 
for ever. 



SERMON XXXIII. 

MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 
Galatians vi : 7. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 

There is a beautiful and most instructive correspondence or 
analogy running through all the works of God. None of his 
laws, either in the natural or moral world, interfere with each 
other, but all are harmonious, and all combine to form a sys- 
tem perfectly adapted to show forth the wisdom, power and 
goodness of the Creator, and to secure the best good of men. 
Hence, the books of creation, providence and revelation do in 
fact, compose but one great volume, every part of which is con- 
sistent with every other part, and the lessons taught us in one 
portion are adapted and designed to give us a better understand- 
ing of the lessons taught us in any other portion. And this 
harmony is not confined to the things of time, but extends to 
another world, and is to receive its most perfect illustration in 
the retributions of eternity. This truth lies on the whole face 



362 MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 

of the Scriptures, but is nowhere expressed in a more condensed 
form than in our text — Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap. There is a principle involved in these brief words, 
which is of great practical importance, and of very wide appli- 
cation. It is this; — Human actions draw after them conse- 
quences corresponding with the nature of those actions. In 
other words, the results of the conduct of men in this life bear 
the same relation to that conduct as the harvest does to the seed 
sown. 

I shall begin with offering a few familiar illustrations of this 
principle as witnessed in the common affairs of life, in the hope 
that I shall thus be able to show more clearly and usefully its 
bearing on the higher interests of the soul and eternity. I re- 
mark then — 

1. The assertion of our text is literally true. The figure is 
taken from agriculture, and expresses a fact with which we are 
all familiar. If a man sows wheat in his field, he reaps wheat ; 
if he sows barley, he reaps barley; if he sows tares, he reaps 
tares. Every kind of grain produces its like; and the quantity 
produced, as well as the kind, corresponds with the quantity 
and kind sowed, and with the diligence and care bestowed in 
cultivation. This is the general law, and we expect its uni- 
formity and permanency with the same certainty that we do any 
other law of nature. 

Now it is from this fact in agriculture that the figure in our 
text is taken. And how instructive ! Whenever the husband- 
man goes forth and sows his prepared acres, or the reaper gath- 
ers in the harvest, or the passer by surveys the crop as he looks 
abroad upon the fields, waving with the ripening grain, and fruits 
of various kind, a voice continually sounds in the ears of each 
— whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap. It is the voice of 
nature repeating the voice of revelation, and pressing home the 
great moral lesson, that actions and their consequences are in- 
separably linked together; that human conduct draws after it 
results corresponding with its nature and intent. 

2. We see the principle of our text illustrated in the culture 
of the mind. Here it holds true that whatsoever a man sow- 
eth, that he also reaps. The mind may be considered as a field 
or garden, committed to him who possesses it for cultivation. If 
he diligently and in proper season bestows the requisite labor 
in planting and sowing good seed, in due time, his garden is en- 
riched with beautiful plants, and flowers, and fruits, and yields 



MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 363 

him an abundance of all that is charming to the eye and grate- 
ful to the taste. On the other hand, if he neglects the necessary 
care of sowing and cultivation, the garden — I speak figuratively 
— is sure to be overrun with weeds and nettles, and nothing 
grows in it but what is noxious and worthless. So it is with 
the mind. Taken early and brought under judicious culture it 
may be strengthened, beautified ^d enriched with all that is 
lovely in disposition, useful in habit, vigorous in intellect, and 
excellent in character. But if it be neglected in its tender, 
formative state, or fall under the influence of bad training, the 
result is certain; it is darkened by ignorance, is deformed by 
bad dispositions and habits, the prey of ungoverned appetites 
and passions, and is as unfit for happiness as it is for honor and 
usefulness in life. There is, no doubt, an original difference in 
minds, both as to disposition and capacity of development; but 
much the greater part of the difference which we witness in the 
habits and characters of men is the result of the different kinds 
of training or of culture they have received. To this source, 
chiefly, is to be attributed the difference there is between the 
civilized and the savage man, between the intelligent, virtuous 
citizen, and the ignorant, degraded outlaw ; between the pious, 
happy, useful Christian, and the poor criminal in his cell, or the 
open despiser of God and salvation. It is often and truly said 
that man is a creature of habit; is, indeed, a bundle of habits; 
and habits, you know, are not self-formed, but are the result of 
custom, of training, of personal agency; and here again you 
see the truth of the principle, that whatsoever a man soweth 
that shall he also reap. 

3. The same truth is illustrated in all the various occupations 
and pursuits of life. The lawyer, who sets his mark high in 
his profession and pursues his object with earnest, persevering 
application, is sure to acquire a reputation and an influence cor- 
responding with his efforts. The physician, who gives himself 
to his calling, and is judicious and thorough in his practice, 
draws around him, if not suddenly, yet certainly, the confidence 
and patronage of the community, and in the end reaps the re- 
wards of his diligence and skill, while the pretender and the 
quack are of ephemeral reputation, and soon pass away and are 
forgotten. The master mechanic and the merchant, and men of 
business of every name, know well how universally applicable 
to their respective callings is the principle we are considering. 
They know that success depends on diligence, industry, perse- 



364 MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 

verance, and that to expect to rise to eminence or to wealth 
without corresponding efforts, would be as vain as to expect to 
reap a harvest without the previous labors of sowing and culti- 
vation. So the apprentice and the clerk, the student, and all 
others reap as they sow. If while learning their business and 
.preparing for future life, they prove themselves diligent, honest, 
trustworthy and active, their Tortunes, if I may so express it, 
are made. By this very incipient process they are clearing the 
way to future success; are forming habits and acquiring a char- 
acter which will be of more value to them than the richest cap- 
ital, and ensure to them in due season a plentiful harvest of all 
that is necessary to make life honorable, useful and happy. On 
the contrary, let a young man, in whatever capacity employed, 
whether as apprentice, !?tudeiat, or clerk, neglect his proper du- 
ties, become unfaithful, indolent, dishonest, or dissipated, and 
by this very process he is hedging up the way of success in life, 
is blasting his prospects and planting seed deep in the inner 
man, which will certainly spring up in due season and yield him 
a most unwelcome harvest of disappointment, poverty and shame. 
4. Let us apply the principle of our text to another and still 
more practical case; I mean the acquisition and use of property. 
The moral law of accumulation is but little understood. It is 
nowhere exactly defined in the Scriptures, and its safe limits are- 
nowhere fixed, except so far as this, that we are not our own 
masters, but stewards of God, and that whether we eat or drink, 
or whatsoever we do, we are to do all to his glory. This is the 
general law, and these the limits of safe accumulation, and 
within these limits it is the right, the privilege, and the duty of 
every man to exert his industry and skill to the utmost in the 
acquisition and use of property. And while he confines him- 
self within these limits, and plans and toils on this principle, he 
consults, in the best manner, his highest and truest interests, 
both for the present and future world. He acts in accordance 
with the will of God, and the laws of his own being; he devel- 
opes and he forms a right character; is industrious and enter- 
prising, is benevolent and generous in the use of his gains, and 
in this way he is continually sowing seed along his course in 
life, which is sure to spring up and yield him a plentiful harvest 
both here and hereafter. He reaps as he sows; and as he sows 
bountifully, so, according to the divine promise, he reaps bounti- 
fully ; here, in the happy effects on his life and character, and 
hereafter, in the enhanced rewards of eternity. 



MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 365 

But when the law here referred to is transgressed, and the 
just limits of accumulation are disregarded; when a man comes 
to feel that he is his own master, and gives himself up to the 
getting and laying up money for his own selfish purposes, to 
gratify his worldliness and love of gain, or to heap up treasures 
for his children, he just as surely sows to the flesh, and of the 
flesh shall reap corruption, as that he is a living man. By a 
process that has been gone through millions of times, and never 
fails in its results, he comes more and more under the control of 
selfish, covetous influences and habits, which bear him away 
further and further from God and duty, and render his pros- 
pects for futurity increasingly dark and hopeless. His worldli- 
ness continually increases', his avarice increases, his eagerness 
to get and lay up increases; his * uneasiness, and restlessness, 
and grasping propensities constantly grow upon him, and he is 
finally borne away into the cold, barren, misanthropic region 
-of selfishness, where no good seed can grow, and where only 
briers, and thorns, and poisonous weeds spring up and thrive. 

This man sows to the world and he reaps of the world; he 
sows to covetousness and reaps of covetousness; and a terrible 
harvest it is which is thus gathered; but it corresponds with 
the seed sown, and it is all that the poor worldling gains from 
his wasting cares, and selfish toils, and miserly hoarding up of 
earthly treasures, except, as the Bible speaks, "he has coveted 
an evil covetousness to his house," has ruined his family by the 
course he has pursued, and prepared himself to share in the 
poverty and woes of Dives in the world of torment. 

5. The truth of the maxim declared in our text is also strik- 
ingly illustrated in the training of families. The family state, 
the first ordained of God in Paradise was expressly appointed, 
as he tells us in his word, "that he might seek a godly seed;"* 
in other words, to spread and perpetuate truth and piety in the 
world; and no institution can be conceived more wisely adapted 
to this end. There is no so hopeful a vinyard for cultivation as 
a young, rising family. The soil is rich, and mellow ; as yet 
unoccupied by noxious plants, and ready to receive whatever 
seed may be cast into it. That seed may be of truth, of vir- 
tue, of salvation ; or it may be of error, of sin and perdition ; 
and whatever is cast into the young and tender soil of child- 
hood and youth comes under the general law of vegetation 
and is sure to spring up and bear corresponding fruit. So 

*Malaclii 2 : 15. 



366 MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 

we should expect it would be from the nature of the case ; so 
it is declared it shall be, in the word of God, and so we see it 
to be in point of fact. 

It is true, there are many sad failures in family training ; 
but they are not more owing to the soil than to the culture, not 
more to defect of fertility, if I may so speak, than to the seed 
sown. Let parents, having first chosen the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness for themselves, really and from the 
heart choose the same for their children; let them begin with 
their oifspring in their tenderest age, and earnestly and prayer- 
fully strive to train them up in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord, instructing them in his fear and love, scattering with 
a diligent hand, the seeds of piety afld goodness in their open- 
ing minds, and shedding upon them the influence of a consis- 
tent Christian example, and they may, according to the laws of 
the human mind, and the sure teachings of God's word, confi- 
dently expect, in due season, to reap a rich harvest in the vir- 
tue, intelligence, good character and salvation of the loved ones 
whom they have thus labored to train up for God and his king- 
dom. You may think, perhaps, that there are so many excep- 
tions as to destroy the general rule. And I admit that the ex- 
ceptions appear to be numerous. But they are more apparent 
than real. Sift them to the bottom, and you will find that they 
do not set aside the general law, but rather establish it. No, it 
is true, whatsoever parents sow in the training of their families, 
that they also reap. If they sow to their virtue, their intelli- 
gence, their salvation, striving first and chief of all to bring 
them to God and fit them for heaven, they may rest assured, 
that sooner or later they shall reap the joy of seeing them 
walking in the way of life, devoted to the Saviour on earth, 
and preparing to dwell eternally with them in his presence in 
glory. 

On the other hand, if they sow to the pride, to the vanity, to 
the self-indulgence and worldliness of their children ; if they 
wish them to be first in the circles of gayety and fashion, and 
are more anxious to have them shine in the world than in the 
beauties of holiness, and, withal, neglect to pray with and in- 
struct them, and to go before them in the example of a devoted, 
Christian life, let them not be surprised, nor charge the fail- 
ure on God, if from such culture they reap only a harvest of 
blighted hopes, of disappointment and sorrow. They do but 
reap what they sowed. The fruit gathered corresponds with 
the culture. 



MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 367 

6. The principle of our text holds true in regard to the at- 
tainment and growth of personal religion. Every man, while 
life lasts, may be regarded as intrusted with the care of a moral 
vineyard, which he is required to cultivate, and the harvest he 
reaps is sure to correspond with the seed he sows in it. A 
part of this vineyard, if I may so speak, lies in his own bosom. 
It is his mind, his heart, his conscience, his affections, his char- 
acter. These demand his first and chief attention ; and if he 
devotes to them such attention ; that is, if he sets himself, sin- 
cerely and in earnest, to the cultivation of his moral nature, if 
he strives to enter in at the strait gate, and seeks first the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness, and diligently uses the di- 
vinely appointed means of salvation, he will not seek and strive 
in vain ; he will become a Christian, enter into the way of life 
and finally obtain everlasting happiness. I do not forget here 
the necessity of divine influence. I know well that the aid of 
the Holy Spirit is necessary in the whole process of moral cul- 
tivation, from the first sowing of the seed in the bosom to the 
reaping of the harvest in its season, — just as the' rain and the 
sunshine are necessary to bring forward and mature what the 
husbandman sows in his fields. But this does not supersede 
the necessity of sowing and cultivation in the one case, more 
than in the other. The connection between labor and success, 
both in the natural and in the moral field is established by God ; 
and it is just as presumptuous and foolish for a sinner to expect 
to become a Christian, or to reap the joys of eternal life, with- 
out serious effort and striving, as it would be for a husbandman 
to expect to reap a harvest of wheat without the previous la- 
bors of sowing and cultivation. 

Rely upon it ; every sinner in this matter reaps as he sows. 
If he is negligent, careless, presumptuous, turning away from 
the offers of mercy, and living only for the things of earth and 
time, he is, by every day's continuance in this state, planting^ 
deep in his bosom, the seeds of perpetual impenitence and sin, 
and he may in the end expect to reap only a harvest of misery 
and despair. Hear the text again, with its connected words ; 
" Be not deceived ; God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man. 
soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh, 
shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the 
spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." And as it is 
true of the sinner, that he reaps what he sows, so is it true of 
the Christian, that he reaps what he sows. His growth in reli- 
32 



368 MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 

gion, the measure and type of his piety, his joy in God, his 
hope of heaven, together ^Yith his usefulness as a Christian, and 
his reward hereafter, will correspond with his diligence and 
earnestness in cultivating personal piety. In other words; 
every man's religion is what on the whole he chooses to have it. 
It just as really depends on the means he uses to improve and 
to make it what it should be, as the harvest depends on the seed 
sown and the labor bestowed in its cultivation. There is no 
one habit, or virtue of the soul more susceptible of cultivation 
than religion. It is feeble in its beginning, like the grain of 
mustard seed, or the germ or blade of a plant, and it increases 
only as it is nurtured and taken care of. There is no piety in 
the world, as one truly remarks, which is not the result of cul- 
tivation, and which cannot be measured by the degree of care 
and attention bestowed upon it. No one becomes eminently 
pious, any more than one becomes eminently learned or rich, 
who does not intend to be so ; and ordinarily, men in religion 
are what they design to be. They have about as much religion 
as on the whole thej wish or seek to possess. When men reach 
extraordinary attainments in religion, like Sir Matthew Hale, 
Wilberforce, Baxter, Edwards and Brainard, they have gained 
what they meant to gain ; and gay and worldly professors of 
religion, who have but little comfort and peace, and do but 
little good in the world, have in fact the characters, which they 
choose to have. They reap what they sowed. If, as a profess- 
ing Christian, you purpose to enjoy religion and the world too, 
to be the patron of fashion as well as a professed follower of 
Christ ; to seek the flattery or the plaudits of men as well as 
the approbation of God, that purpose will render the whole of 
your religious life useless, vacillating, inconsistent, unhappy. 
You will live without the enjoyment of religion and die, leav- 
ing little evidence to your friends that you have gone to be with 
God. 

*If, on the other hand, you have singleness of purpose, and 
sincerely aim to be devoted to Godan the whole of your Chris- 
tian life, your piety will be clear, decided, happy ; and your re- 
ligious course will be one of usefulness and peace, of honor to 
yourself and glory to your Saviour and king. I must add, 

7. The principle we are considering will be fully illustrated 
in the retributions of eternity. Time forbids me to enlarge on 
this topic, though it is one of the deepest and most impressive 
interest. The present life is preparatory to a life to come. 



MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 369 

What men sow here, they are to reap hereafter. The conse- 
quences of their actions pass with them into the state beyond 
the grave, and are to have a most decisive influence on their 
condition, as happy or miserable, during the endless ages 
of their future being. Men are now forming the characters in 
which they are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ; 
are contracting the account which they will have to render up 
at his bar on their trial at the last day ; and on the decisions of 
that trial depend the fate of every son and daughter of Adam 
for a long eternity. This is the uniform doctrine of the Bible, 
and is just the carrying out of the principle asserted in our 
text, to its ultimate and complete results in the world to come. 
There the results of human character and of human conduct 
will be fully developed ; there the harvest springing from the 
seed sown in this life will be reaped in everlasting happiness 
or everlasting misery. Such is the decision of God in his 
word, and such is the lesson set before us in all the analogies of 
nature and of providence. 

"What an amazing importance then, is attached to all we do 
or neglect to do of duty in the present world ? We are indeed 
fearfully made, but still more fearfully situated. Every thing 
we do is a seed of futurity, and is daily ripening into heaven 
or hell. It is here we receive the stamp or impression for the 
whole of our existence — here we sow the seed of the harvest 
which we are to reap hereafter ; and its joyous or dread results 
are to be our portion forever and ever. 

No germ of piety implanted in the bosom, no grace of the 
Spirit engrafted on the character, no act of self-denial in the 
cause of Christ, no cup of cold water given to a disciple of his, 
no prayer offered, no effort to honor the Saviour, or to advance 
his cause, or to acquire a meetness for his kingdom, will be for- 
gotten, in the great day of account. All will be remembered 
and graciously rewarded by our Judge in the winding up of 
this earthly scene. On the other hand, evil deeds, — impeni- 
tence, worldliness, neglect of God and the concerns of the soul, 
with all the doings of irreligion, ungodliness and vice, — these, 
often little thought of or cared for here, plant deep in the bo- 
som the seeds of future misery ; the seeds of that fearful har- 
vest which is represented to us in the Scriptures, as the worm 
that never dies, aud the fire that is never quenched, as going 
away into everlasting punishment, into the lake of fire that 
burneth forever and ever. 



370 MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 

The truth of the principle thus brought before you, cannot 
be called in question, and its wide and momentous applications 
are such, that they must, it would seem, arrest the attention and 
fix the thoughts of every candidate for immortality. For what 
are we living, my friends ? To what end are we hastening ? 
What seed are we sowing for eternity, and what harvest shall 
we reap in that world in which we are to dwell forever? 
These questions, deeply interesting in themselves, are pressed 
upon us, with immediate and solemn urgency, by the subject we 
have been contemplating. And let no man who lays any claim 
to forethought or prudence, neglect to bring these questions 
home and make a direct application of them to himself. You 
see it to be a uniform and a universally established principle, 
under the government of God, that whatsoever a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap. This being so, how precious, how un- 
speakably important is the period of youth, the spring season- 
of life and of eternity ? The present is with you, my young 
friends, by far the most interesting portion of your whole exist- 
ence. You are now planting within you the germs of future 
character; are sowing the seeds from which you are to reap 
honor or shame, happiness or misery, not only in this life, but 
in that which is to come. Improve aright then this morning, 
this hopeful dawn of your immortal being ; remember that you 
are now forming the habits which you are likely to carry with 
you through life and forever ; are planting and sowing that 
which you are to reap hereafter ; and be careful that you plant 
and sow only that which will yield you a harvest of joy and 
blessedness, and not of misery and wo, whether in this world 
or in that to which you are going. 

And let the eager, grasping man of the world look at the 
course he is pursuing, in the light of the subject here brought 
before him. He plans, he toils, he gets gains, he hoards up, he 
pulls down his barns and builds larger and lays up treasures 
for many years and thinks how rich and how happy he shall be 
when those years shall come. But it is all for the world, for 
self, for time ; God is not in all his thoughts; his soul is neg- 
lected, his eternity disregarded, and his heart is wholly fixed on 
the things of earth and time. And what will he reap from 
all his labor in planting and sowing? Poor, self-deceived, 
restless lover of the world, rather than of God, — read thy 
disappointments, thy sorrows, thy doom in the history of the 
man in the parable, who was rich, gorgeously clothed and fared 



MEN REAP AS THEY SOW. 371 

sumptuously every day. But the hour came, the unexpected, 
the unprovided for hour ; he died, and in hell lifted up his eyes 
in torment, too poor to command or to procure even a drop of 
water to cool his tongue, amid the miseries of the world of 
despair. 

Here too the hypocrite may learn the folly of his hyprocrisy. 
All his labor is to appear what he is not ; and he is thus mak- 
ing prepartion for his own disappointment and confusion. 
What should we think of a man, who should sow thistles in- 
stead of wheat in his field, and who, having, by early rising 
and performing his work in the dark, deceived his neighbor, 
should congratulate himself for his ingenuity and success? 
Foolish, deluded man, we should say ; of what account is it to 
thy neighbor, in comparison of what it is to thyself? It will 
soon appear what thou art, and what thou hast been doing; and 
then thou shalt reap as thou hast sowed and eat forever of the 
bitter fruit of thy own ways ? 

The worldly-minded Christian, the careless professor of reli- 
gion may also learn from our subject what he may expect from 
the manner of life he is pursuing. Careful and troubled about 
many things, eager after the world, but remiss and negligent 
in all the duties of his Christian calling, he thinks little how, 
by such a course of life, he is dwarfing his religion, chilling the 
roots of his piety, preparing for himself a poor, meager har- 
vest of spiritual good, if any harvest at all, in the close of his 
earthly career. Such however is the fact. Yes ; by ev6ry 
day's continuance in the course here indicated, know, worldly- 
minded, undutiful, negligent disciple of Christ, that thou art 
sowing to the flesh, and shalt reap accordingly; thou art weak- 
ening thy faith, darkening thy hope, heaping up obstructions in 
thy way to heaven, and making it more and more doubtful, 
whether thou shalt ever enter that world, and certainly dimin- 
ishing thy happiness, thy rewards hereafter, during all thy eter- 
nity of being. 

Finally, the living, devoted, earnest Christian may learn from 
our subject, how safe and how happy the life he has chosen, and 
how sure and blessed are the results which await him in glory. 
Thy Saviour, faithful disciple of Jesus, has marked out the 
course thou art pursuing ; he has promised to be with thee and 
to bless thee in all thy journey on earth ; to give thee joy and 
peace and hope as thou goest forth, scattering within and 
around thee, the seeds of immortal life, and you have his assu- 
32* 



372 ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OF CONFIDENCE 

ranee that all you do for the honor of his name, for the ad- 
vancement of his cause, for the salvation of men and for your 
growth in piety and meetness for heaven, he will remember 
hereafter and cause it to yield you an abundant harvest of joy 
and blessedness eternal in his kingdom. Go on then, faithful 
disciple of the Lord ; thou art in the right way, and every day 
a voice comes to cheer thee on, — thou shalt reap in due season, 
if thou faintest not, reap everlasting happiness in the kingdom 
of thy Saviour and thy God. 



SERMON XXXIV. 

ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OP CONFIDENCE IN THE 
DAY OF HIS APPEARING. 

1 John 2: 28. And now, little children, abide in him; that when he shaL 
appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his 
coming. 

The term little children is used in the text, as a term of 
affectionate endearment. It fell gracefully from the lips of the 
loved and loving Apostle John, now far advanced in life, — as 
ripe for heaven as he was in age, and in all the graces of the 
Christian character. He felt for those whom he thus addressed 
all the affection of a father for his children. He regarded 
them as fellow disciples of Christ, children of God and heirs 
with him to an inheritance in heaven. Most of them were 
doubtless much younger than himself, and many of them were 
probably in their youthful age, having as yet but little experi- 
ence in the christian life, and exposed to the temptations and 
dangers incident to persons in their situation. The venerable 
Apostle, writing to them, just on the verge of hfe, soon to take 
his departure to his home in heaven, naturally gave vent to his 
feelings in language expressive of tender affection and earnest 



IN THE DAY OI*>HIS APPEARING. 373- 

desire for their highest and best good. Having in the context 
referred to certain dangers and trials to which the persons 
addressed were exposed, and indicated the way and the means 
of overcoming them, he urged on them an important duty, 
expressed in the most tender and impressive exhortation, — And 
now httle children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we 
may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his 
coming. 

In contemplating this portion of scripture, three leading 
thoughts claim our attention, — An event to be prepared for, a 
duty enjoined in reference to that event, and the reasons or 
motives by which that duty is enforced. I shall speak of each 
of these topics in their order. And, 

I, The event referred to, for which preparation is to be made, 
is the coming of Christ, — that we may have confidence, and 
not be ashamed before him, at his coming. Let us contemplate 
this great fact, the second coming of our Lord as it is set 
before us in the light of God's word. 

And here, I may remark in passing, that for all the knowl- 
edge we have of this fact, the winding up of this world's pro- 
bation, and the events which are to attend and follow it, we are 
wholly indebted to revelation. Reason unaided, can not pene- 
trate into the future even to tell us what shall be on the mor- 
row ; much less can it make known to us the time and manner 
of the end of the world, or the scenes which are to precede and 
attend that great and solemn event. All is hidden from us 
except so far as Divine revelation has lifted the curtain and 
given us light on this subject of momentous interest. Of 
momentous interest it certainly is, beyond any other event that 
ever occurred in the history of our race. — I mean the coming 
of our Lord to judge the world. 

The first coming of Christ, as the Messiah, the Saviour of 
the world, was a great event. It was for centuries foretold by 
prophets, and looked forward to with intense desire by all, who, 
like Simeon of old, waited for the consolation of Israel. And 
when the Saviour did appear on earth, all heaven, it would 
seem, was moved by the event. A company of angels were 
commissioned to announce the fact to men ; a strange star 
appeared in the heavens to guide inquiring sages from the dis- 
tant East to the manger where he was laid in his infantile 
weakness and dependence. And truly it was a scene of deep 
and moving interest when the Son of God, who had glory with 



374 ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OF CONFIDENCE 

the Father before the world was, veiled that glory in our 
humanity, became a man of sorrows and aquainted with grief, 
and during his whole sojourn on earth, submitted to privations 
and sufferings, to shame and reproach, in every form, from 
those whom he came to save, crowning all by the sacrifice of 
the cross. Nor is it strange, considering who he was, and on 
what errand he came into the world, that mighty signs and 
wonders should mark his advent, and signalize every part of 
his mission on earth. Again and again, angels were sent forth 
to minister unto him ; again and again the Eternal Father bore 
witness to him, proclaiming with loud voice from heaven, — This 
is my beloved Son ; hear ye him. And at his crucifixion, the 
sun, the earth, the opening graves and rising dead, united their 
testimony to the majesty and glory of the Son of God, as the 
Saviour and Sovereign of the world. 

These scenes are passed. They marked the first coming of 
the Son of God upon earth and his departure from it. But 
the scenes yet future, which gather around the second coming 
of Christ, are far more grand and awful than those just ad- 
verted to. Let us consider them for a moment. The fact of 
his second coming to close the world's probation and fix, in 
righteous judgment, the eternal destinies of men, is clearly set 
before us in the Scriptures, and always in language peculiarly 
solemn and impressive. Thus Enoch, the seventh from Adam, 
foretelling his judicial appearance, said — Behold the Lord com- 
eth with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon 
all. And John, in the opening of the Revelation, exclaims — 
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, 
and they also that pierced him ; and all the kindreds of the 
earth shall wail because of him. The everlasting judge him- 
self assures us of his coming, with this preface, — Behold I come 
quickly ; that is suddenly, unexpectedly, in a manner fitted to 
rouse universal attention. Hear also the declaration of the two 
angelic messengers who appeared to the Apostles on the Mount 
of Olives after the ascension of Christ in their presence ; — Ye 
men of Galliiee ; why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This 
same Jesus which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come 
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. The 
Apostle Paul, referring to this great event as a source of com- 
fort to those who had recently lost Christian friends in the 
church of Thessalonica, says, — The Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of 



IN THE DAY OF HIS APPEARING. 375^ 

God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which 
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in 
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air ; so shall we ever be 
with the Lord. So also, in his second epistle to the same 
church, he says ; The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven 
with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on 
them who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, when 
he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all 
them that believe. Again, in the epistle to the Hebrews it is 
said, — As it is appointed unto men once to die and after that 
the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
many, and unto them that look for him, he shall appear the 
second time without sin unto salvation. 

To this second coming, our Lord himself refers when in his 
last discourse to his disciples, he said, — In my Father's house 
are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you ; 
I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and prepare a 
place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that 
where I am, there ye may be also. But the passage which 
contains the fullest account of the second coming of Christ is in 
the 25th chapter of Matthew, where our Lord speaks at length 
of the process and results of the final judgment. It opens thus : 
When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy 
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, 
and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall sepa- 
rate them one from another, as the shepherd divideth the sheep 
from the goats. I need not quote the whole passage. It 
declares, in the plainest terms, the coming of our Lord to judge 
the world, and also the results of the final trial of the two 
classes of persons summoned before his tribunal, and closes 
with the solemn announcement that the wicked shall go away 
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. 

Let it be remembered now that this grand and awful scene, 
the final judgment, is before us ; we shall all witness it, not as 
spectators merely, but as persons directly concerned in it. 
And in what way may we be prepared to meet it with confi- 
dence and hope, and not be overwhelmed with disappointment 
and despair in the great day of the Lord's coming ? Our text 
informs us. And now little children abide in him, that when 
he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed 
before him at his coming. 



376 ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OF CONFIDENCE 

II. Let us, then, as proposed, secondly, consider the duty 
here enjoined, that of abiding in Christ. What is meant by 
this duty, or what is it to abide in Christ? The language is of 
frequent occurrence in the New Testament, and is full of deep, 
significant meaning. To speak of one as abiding in. Christ 
implies of course, that he is already in him ; in him by a new 
spiritual birth ; in him by having been made a new creature in 
Christ ; for it is said, if any man be in Christ he is a new crea- 
ture ; and this change, this internal spiritual change, we must 
all experience, before we can be in Christ in any such sense as 
will give us confidence in the day of his final coming. To be 
in him in the true scriptural import of the phrase is to have a real 
vital union with him in faith and love and holy obedience ; it is 
to have him formed in the soul, as the Apostle speaks, the hope 
of glory, inspiring us with his spirit, actuating us by his grace, 
conforming us to his will and making us fruitful in all holy liv- 
ing to the glory of his name. In a word, to be in Christ and 
abide in him is to be engrafted into him, as the Saviour teaches 
in the fifteenth chapter of John, as the branch is engrafted into 
the vine, so that we shall derive our spiritual life from him, and 
be nurtured and strengthened and made steadfast in our Chris- 
tian course unto the end, or until we are finally fitted for, and 
received into heaven. 

Having thus stated what it is to be in Christ and to abide in 
him, let us next consider the necessity of this to fit us for the 
second coming of our Lord ; to prepare us to witness that 
grand and momentous event without fear and without the over- 
throw of our hopes. And surely in the great day of the 
Lord's coming we shall need something to rest upon as a 
ground of confidence firmer and more abiding than anything 
the world can afford us. Suppose that day present, the day for 
which all other days were made ; the point where will be con- 
centrated all your interests for eternity, and from which you 
are to take your departure for heaven or for hell, according to 
the sentence pronounced upon you from the great tribunal. 
Can it be doubted that in the presence of such a scene, many 
in this assembly would be thrown into the greatest consterna- 
tion, overwhelmed with fear and dread ? But what is future 
will one day be present, and the time will come when we shall 
behold the scene of the final coming of Christ in judgment 
actually transpiring before our eyes, and when we shall realize 
in our inmost souls that our all for eternity is pending on the 



IN THE DAY OF HIS APPEARING. 377 

will of him in whose immediate presence we shall stand to be 
tried and judged. Now, it is of having confidence in that day, 
of not being ashamed or confounded before our judge at his 
coming, that the Apostle speaks in our text, and he exhorts us 
to one thing, if in that day we would have peace of mind, and 
confidence and hope, and that is, that we abide in Christ. 

Let us see how this will avail to keep us in calmness and 
hope on that great and dreadful day. And 

1. Abiding in Christ we shall have no fear of condemnation 
in the day of his final coming. For we are assured there is no 
condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Their debt of 
guilt is canceled; the penalty of the violated law is blotted 
out, and the soul found in Christ, abiding in him is justified 
freely by his grace, is pardoned and accepted in him and has 
nothing to fear from, the process and issues of the trial at the 
last day. The great cause of dread on that day will be a con- 
sciousness of guilt unpardoned, of sin unforgiven ; but this 
taken away, as it will be in respect to all who abide in Christ, 
they will look up with serene confidence and hope, to the judge 
on his throne, and feel that they have nothing to fear from the 
decisions of his tribunal. 

2. Abiding in Christ you will feel assured, when summoned 
into his presence at the last day, that you have a friend in your 
judge, an advocate and intercessor ; and having chosen him, 
according to his word, as your Saviour and your all, you can 
securely leave your cause in his hand, in firm confidence that 
all will be well with you forever. Your sins forgiven, your 
soul united to the E,edeemer, who now appears your Days-man, 
your Mediator, to answer the demands of justice, and assert his 
claims to you as one for whom he died ; clothed in his right- 
eousness and sealed by the Spirit as an heir of heaven, — what 
can there be in the scenes of the last day to shake your confi- 
dence or cloud your mind with fear ? Nothing, nothing ; all 
will rather exalt your confidence, your joy and your hope, in 
the full assurance that the day of your complete redemption 
has come, and you are saved forever. I may add, 

3. That found abiding in Christ, his promise is given, his 
truth pledged, that all your dearest interests are safe for eter- 
nity. Having loved you and given himself to die for you, and 
you having chosen him as your Saviour, and united to him in 
an abiding, spiritual union, the scenes of the last day will only 
consummate the work begun in your behalf on earth, will ful- 



'S7S ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OP CONFIDENCE 

fill all the precious promises of the Saviour's love toward you; 
pronounce your full discharge before the great tribunal, and bid 
you welcome as blessed of the Father to an immortal inheri- 
tance prepared for you in heaven. So it will be with all who 
abide in Christ. He is their all and in all ; their Lord and 
Saviour ; their righteousness and strength ; he redeemed them 
by his blood, and his redemption of them will be consummated 
at his second coming and they will be bidden welcome to the 
eternal joys of his kingdom. 

Let me now, in conclusion, direct your attention for a mo- 
ment, to some of the reasons or motives, which enforce the 
duty of abiding in Christ, and so having confidence when he 
shall appear. And 

1. Let it be impressed on your mind that his coming to 
judge the world is an absolute certainty. The time of his 
coming is unknown ; it is a secret with God ; it may be near at 
hand, or it may be afar off; we do not know. But the fact 
that he will come hereafter to raise the dead and sit in judg- 
ment on the whole race of man, is as certain as the word of 
God can make it. It is appointed unto men once to die and 
after that the judgment. This is the decree of heaven; and 
nothing can reverse it. Consider then, that just so. certain as 
it is that you must die, so certain it is, that you will stand 
before the Son of God in judgment, and will see with your own 
eyes all the grand and awful scenes which are to atttend his 
coming at that day. Contemplate the duty before you in the 
light of this solemn fact, and let the certainty of the coming of 
Christ to judge you and all mankind at his bar, urge you, one 
and all, to be found in him, to abide in him in life, in death, and 
so be accepted of him in the great day of final decision. 

I may just add, in this connection, that now is the time to 
seek and form that union with Christ, that abiding in him 
which is necessary to secure_your confidence at his final appear- 
ing. For if found out of Christ at death — and you may die any 
moment — you will be found out of him at the judgment, and the 
consequence, in either case, will be fear and trembling, endless 
despair and wo. 

2. To enforce still further the duty we are considering, let 
me remind you again of the august and solemn scenes connec- 
ted with the coming of Christ to judge the world. I have 
before spoken of these scenes and need not enlarge here. ' I 
.advert to them now as suggesting the most solemn and weighty 



IN THE DAT OF HIS APPEARING. 379 

motive to the duty enjoined in this text. Think then of the 
end of time, of the closing up of this world's probation ; of the 
eternal Judge coming in the clouds of heaven, with mighty 
angels ; of his raising the dead ; of his gathering them all 
before his bar ; of his laying open the characters and disclosing 
the deeds and deserts of all, as the ground of the sentence to 
be pronounced on them, and then of his assigning to each and 
to all their final condition as saved or lost, in heaven or in hell. 
Remember that these scenes are before you ; you may forget 
them ; you may neglect to prepare for them ; but you can not 
escape them ; you must meet them ; must bear a part in them, 
as awaiting the final audit, with its issues, before the bar of 
Christ your Judge. Is there then anything so important as 
that you should prepare, while you may, for the coming of the 
great day of the Lord ? Should not every one of you, now 
moving on to judgment, inquire with all seriousness, how you 
may have confidence in that day and not be confounded before 
your judge at his appearing? And there is but one answer to 
that inquiry ; it is that you be found in Christ, abiding in him 
as your Lord, your Saviour and your all. This duty is 
enforced, 

3. By the consideration that Christ is presented in his gospel 
as an all-suflicient Saviour ; and abiding in him, you may rest 
assured that you will be able to witness the scenes of the last 
day with perfect peace. There is one name, and but one given 
under heaven among men whereby you can be saved from 
wrath in the great day of the Lord's coming. That is Christ. 
He is an all-sufficient refuge, a stone, a tried stone, a precious 
corner stone, a sure foundation, and abiding in him you have 
the assurance of eternal truth that you shall never be moved. 
Safe beneath the pavilion of his everlasting love and faithful- 
ness, you can hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of 
God calling the dead to judgment ; you can see the earth on 
fire and the heavens rolled together as a scroll; the judge 
descending with his mighty angels, and all nations gathered 
before his bar, waiting the decisions of his judgment seat; you 
can witness all this, and in all this, as one of the immense throng 
before the great tribunal, rest in perfect confidence that you 
are safe, and safe forever. And that because you are shielded 
in the almighty power and everlasting love of Christ your 
Redeemer. Found in him you can adopt the language of the 
Apostle and apply every word of it to yourself, even when on 
33 



380 ABIDING IN CHRIST THE GROUND OF CONFIDENCE 

your trial at the last day, — Who shall lay any thing to the 
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he 
that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is 
risen again ; who is even at the right hand of God ; who also 
maketh intercession for us. And this care and love which the 
risen and exalted Saviour now exercises in behalf of the 
redeemed, will not be withdrawn, but consummated at the final 
judgment, and they will then enter into the joys prepared for 
them in his eternal presence in glory. Weigh well this motive, 
and let all be persuaded by it to be found abiding in Christ, 
that so they may have perfect security and confidence amid the 
solemn scenes of the last day. It must be added, 

4. Security amid those scenes can be derived from no other 
source. View the coming of the Lord as present, and yourself 
before his bar, awaiting your final trial ; and whence could you 
look for confidence, whence find peace and hope in such an 
hour? Insensibility and carelessness will then be at an end; 
unbelief and presumption will then be impossible ; all will be 
felt to be solemn reality, stirring the deepest feelings of the 
soul and waking all the faculties of the mind into the most 
intense activity. Will mere morality avail to give you confi- 
dence in that day, or self-righteousness, or any form or profes- 
sion of godliness, however fair and commendable in appearance, 
if you are found without Christ, having never known what it is 
to be in him and to abide in him ? Nay, these and all other 
refuges will vanish in a moment in the presence of the great 
tribunal, and having nothing to rest upon, other than your own 
deeds, or your own deservings, you will sink down in utter 
despair, overwhelmed with the consciousness that you are lost, 
and lost for eternity. And O, how terrible the conviction of 
guilt which will then penetrate and weigh down the soul, the 
guilt of having neglected Christ, of refusing to set your hope 
in him and to receiv'e him as your Saviour; substituting for 
God's method of saving you, devices and schemes of your own, 
all utterly fallacious and worthless. 

We fall back then on this great truth ; you can have confi- 
dence in the day of Christ's coming, only as you abide in him ; 
be in him first by a vital union with him in faith and love, and 
then continuing in him as your Lord and Saviour, your right- 
eousness and your all, faithful unto death. This is God's method 
of saving sinners and of inspiring them with confidence in the 
great day of judgment and account. It is plain and definite. 



IN THE DAT OF HIS APPEARING. 381 

There is no other. This is all-sufficient, free and open to all. 
I set it before you this day, and invite you all to avail your- 
selves of it, that so you may have confidence^ and not be 
ashamed and confounded before the Lord at his final appearing 
to judge the world. 

What then is the great question which in view of this sub- 
ject should coihe home to the mind of each one of my hearers. 
It is this, — Do I know, experimentally, what it fs to be in 
Christ ? and what it is to abide in him in faith and love, as the 
Lord my righteousness and strength, my Saviour and my all ? 
Remember that in deciding this question you must go beyond 
mere profession and form ; beyond mere morality and outward 
respect for religion and its ordinances ; you must go down into 
the heart and inquire into the working of the inner spirit, 
and know whether Christ is in you the hope of glory ; whether 
his love rules in the inner man, and his grace controls the 
habits, the aims and the pursuits of life. This inquiry, in- 
volving as it does the soul's immortal well being, claims the 
most serious attention of every person present, and urges you, 
one and all, as you would have confidence in the day of the 
Lord's coming, to decide it on grounds that will abide by and 
sustain you in hope, when the heavens and the earth shall be 
no more, and the condition of all men as saved or lost will be 
fixed forever. 

I here leave the subject with the prayer that when the Lord 
the judge shall appear, the message now delivered you in his 
name shall be approved of him, and that you to whom it has 
been addressed may be found abiding in Christ, ready to wel- 
come his appearing, and to enter at his call into his kingdom 
of everlasting blessedness. 



SERMON XXXY. * 

CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN.* 
Hebrews ix : 27. It is appointed unto men once to die. 

The fact asserted in this text is admitted by all, but how 
few appear to feel its practical influence. Who would infer 
from the conduct and conversation of most men, that they be- 
lieved themselves to be mortal, or that they expected any thing 
less than that their residence on earth is to be perpetual? They 
live as carelessly, plan as confidently, and pursue the world 
with as much eagerness, as if they were exempted from change, 
and could set at defiance the attacks of disease and death. Yet 
they must die — must die soon, and may die suddenly, and after 
death cometh the judgment. This is the appointment of God,, 
and in this war there is no discharge. It is wise, then, to con- 
sider our latter end, to be familiar with the thought of dying, 
often and seriously to consider what will be our feelings and 
views when we shall come to lie upon our death-bed, and feel 
that we are going into eternity. This is a duty which especially 
demands our attention now, as we have just taken leave of the 
old year, and are entering upon the unknown, untried scenes of 
a new one, which, to some of us, no doubt, will be the last year 
of life. 

Let us, then, endeavor to bring the closing scene near; to 
think of ourselves as having reached the end of our earthly 
course, and about to take our final leave of the world and all 
its busy cares. The question arises, what, in such a case, would 
be our feelings, what the reflections that would press upon our 
minds with the greatest weight and solemnity? We may, in- 
deed, die so suddenly, that we shall have no time to think till 
we think in eternity. We may drop in a moment into the un- 
seen world, as many do, without any warning of our end, till 
the blow is struck, and the spirit finds itself in the immediate 

^ A sermon for the New Year. 



CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 383 

presence of God. Or the last sickness may come in such a 
form as to rack the body with agonizing pain, put out the light 
of reason, and cloud the mind in wild delirium. But on suppo- 
sition that we shall be notified of our approaching end by the 
usual precursors of death, and that the dying scene shall find us 
in the exercise of our reason, capable of reflecting upon the 
past, and anticipating the future, let us inquire how we shall 
feel, what will be our judgment as to our present course of life, 
and what our thoughts, as we draw near the invisible world, 
and know that we are standing on the verge of a boundless eter- 
nity. We can not, indeed, know all that we shall feel a^d think 
in that solemn hour. It will be to each of us a new and untried 
scene, till we are actually called to pass through it, and learn 
from dying what it is to die. But it is certain we shall feel and 
think very differently from what we now do. On many sub- 
jects our views will be wholly changed ; they will appear to us 
in an entirely new light, and awaken feelings within, of which 
we can now form but a very faint conception. We know this 
from the nature of the case, and also from the feelings and views 
which are wont to be expressed by men when they come to die. 
We have seen many persons die, and we have authentic accounts 
of the manner in which many others died whom we did not see. 
Let us, then, study the experience of the dying. It is the last 
school of wisdom to which the children of men can be advanced ; 
and as we shall all ere long be placed in that school, let us re- 
call a few particulars, respecting which the feelings and senti- 
ments of men are wont to undergo a great change as they view 
themselves near to the close of life. As I shall illustrate the 
subject by a frequent recurrence to what persons have felt and 
said in that situation, I may entitle my discourse, confessions 

OF DYING MEN. 

1. In the first place, when men come to die, they are wont to 
feel, with a vividness of impression wholly unknown before, the 
shortness of life, and the unspeakable value of time. Viewed 
in prospect, or in the season of health and happiness, life usu- 
ally seems long, and time is but little valued. To the young a 
year is wont to appear longer than a whole life does to him who 
is about to depart out of it ; and time hangs so heavily on their 
hands that they know not what to do with it. And even when 
they have attained to the meridian of their days, and their sun 
is on the decline, they usually have but a very faint impression 
of the shortness of life, or of the immense value of the hours 
33* 



384 CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 

that are flitting by them. Especially is this the case with the 
irreligious and worldly-minded. Immersed in the cares and 
pursuits of earth and sense, they perceive not how rapidly the 
little span of life is wasting away, nor how .soon all the time 
allotted them in this state of probation will have passed with 
the years beyond the flood. They still live under the delusive 
impression that they have time enough before them to accom- 
plish all their plans, and do what they please. 

But when they come to die the whole scene is changed. Life 
is then seen to be indeed but a vapor, that appeareth for a little 
moment, and then vanisheth away. All the months and years 
they have passed on earth are then compressed, as it were, into 
a point, and seem more like a dream than a reality. Hear how 
the worthies, whose names are recorded in the Bible, spoke on 
this subject, as they approached the close of life. " My days," 
says Job, "are swifter than a post, they are passed away as a 
shadow." "Kemember how short my time is," cries the Psalm- 
ist. " Behold thou hast made my days as a handbreath, and 
mine age is as nothing before thee ; as for man, his days are as 
grass ; in the morning it is green ; in the evening it is cut down 
and withered." And the patriarch Jacob, though he had lived 
an hundred and thirty years, felt constrained to say, " Few and 
evil have the days of the years of my life been." 

Such are the feelings of all men at the close of life. It seems 
but a transient moment, and the events of it as a dream when 
one awaketh. Lord Chesterfield, though a skeptic, and devoted 
to a life of pleasure, was compelled to say, near the close of his 
days, "When I reflect upon what I have seen, what I have 
heard, and what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself 
that all the frivolous hurry, and bustle, and pleasure of the 
world, are a reality ; but they seem to have been the dreams of 
restless nights." Voltaire, after having spent a long life in 
blaspheming the Saviour, and opposing his gospel, said to his 
physician on his dying bed, "I will give you half of what I am 
worth, if you will give me six months of life." " O, time ! time I 
exclaimed the dying Altamont; "how art thou fled for ever! 
A month ! oh, for a single week ! I ask not for years, though 
an age were too little for the much I have to do." Said Gib- 
bon, "The present is a fleeting moment, the past is no more^ 
and my prospect of futurity is dark and doubtful." Hobbes said, 
as the last hour approached, "If I had the whole world to dis- 
pose of, I would give it to live one day." " Oh !" cried the 



CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 385 

Duke of Buckingham, as he was closing a life devoted to folly 
and sin, "What a prodigal have I been of the most valuable of 
all possessions — time! I have squandered it away with the 
persuasion that it was lasting ; and now, when a few days would 
be worth a hecatomb of worlds, I can not flatter myself with 
the prospect of half a dozen hours." 

You see from these examples what are the impressions of 
dying men, whether good or bad, respecting the brevity of life, 
and the worth of time. One sentiment is then felt by all — life 
is very short, and time is of infinite value. 

2. Another confession which is wont to be made by dying 
men is, that there is nothing in this world that can satisfy the 
wants of the immortal soul. This is a lesson which men in 
general are extremely slow to learn. Though they are contin- 
ually taught by the Word and the Providence of God, that all 
things earthly are but for a moment, and perish in the using, 
they still pursue them as their supreme good, and vainly flatter 
themselves that when this plan is accomplished, and that object 
attained, they shall be satisfied; they shall be happy. This is 
the delusion of the young, the middle-aged, and the aged; and 
it is the main-spring of that restless activity and ambition, and 
aspiring after the world, which we witness around us. * All wish 
to be happy, and all expect to be happy in the possession of 
worldly good. 

But in the dying hour this is discovered to be a most fatal 
mistake, and men look back with amazement upon the folly and 
madness with which they pursued the world, and looked to its 
possessions for a satisfying portion. As they stand upon the 
verge of time, and extend their view to the boundless eternity 
that stretches before them, the world sinks into utter insignifi- 
cance, and they wonder how they ever could have been so en- 
amored of its glittering toys, and how the living can be so de- 
luded as to chase its fleeting vanities in the expectation of de- 
riving from them a satisfying good. When Salmasius, one of 
the greatest scholars of his time, drew near to death, he ex- 
claimed .bitterly against himself — " Oh, I have lost a world of 
time; time, the most precious thing on the earth, whereof if I 
had but one year more, it should be spent in David's Psalms 
and Paul's Epistles. Oh, mind the world less and God more !" 
Grotius possessed the finest genius ever recorded of a youth in 
the learned world, and rose to an eminence in literature and 
science which drew upon him the admiration of all Europe; 



386 CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 

yet, after all his attainments and high reputation, he was con- 
strained at last to cry out — "Ah, I have consumed my life in a 
laborious doing of nothing! I would give all my learning and 
honor for the plain integrity of John Urick" — a poor man of 
eminent piety. Sir John Mason, on his death-bed, said : " I 
have lived to see five princes, and have been privy counselor to 
four of them ; I have seen the most important things in foreign 
parts, and have been preset at most state transactions for thirty 
years together; and I have learned, after so many years' expe- 
rience, that seriousness is the greatest wisdom, temperance the 
best physic, and a good conscience the best estate. And were 
I to live again, I would change the whole life I have lived in 
the palace, for an hour's enjoyment of God in the chapel." 
Philip, the third king of Spain, when he drew near the end of 
his days, expressed his deep regret for a worldly and careless 
life in these emphatic words : " Ah, how happy it would have 
been for me had I spent these twenty-three year-s, I have held 
my kingdom, in retirement !" " Good God !" exclaimed a dying 
nobleman, "how have I employed myself! In what delirium 
has my life been passed ! What have I been doing while the 
sun in its race and the stars in their courses have lent their 
beams, perhaps, only to light me to perdition ! I have pursued 
shadows, and entertained myself with dreams. I have been 
treasuring up dust, and sporting myself with the wind. I might 
have grazed with the beasts of the field, or sung with the 
winged inhabitants of the woods, to much better purpose than: 
any for which I have lived." 

Examples of this kind might be multiplied to almost any ex- 
tent, but enough have, been cited to show how men regard the 
riches and honors of the world when they find themselves draw- 
ing near to a dying hour, and are called to look into eternity. 

3. When men are laid upon a dying bed they are wont to 
feel and to acknowledge the utter insufficiency of a mere moral 
life to prepare them to appear in the presence of God. Many 
there are who trust to such a life as their only ground of hope 
for eternity. They do not, perhaps, believe in the reality of a 
change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit, or at least they da 
not feel the need of such a change in themselves. They mean- 
to lead a correct moral life, to be honest in their dealings, and 
kind in their treatment of their fellow-men, and this, they 
imagine, will avail to secure the approbation of their final Judge. 
They have no just sense of sin, nor of their need of pardon- 



CONFESSIONS OP DYING MEN. 387 

tarough the blood of Christ, but trust all to a moral life. There 
is no more common delusion than this, and it is a delusion which 
vanishes at the approach of death, and leaves the soul trembling^ 
in prospect of going to appear before God. The actions of life 
then appear in a far different light from what they do in the 
days of health and thoughtlessness. Many things which are 
indulged, without the slightest apprehension of their being 
wrong, are then seen to be sins deeply offensive to God, and 
dangerous to the soul. The law is seen to be unspeakably more 
strict and holy, sin to be a much greater evil, and the trial be- 
fore the judgment-seat of Christ far more dreadful. What the 
sinner needs in the dying hour is something to take away the 
sting of death ; something to sustain his spirit as he passes into 
the dark valley, and to assure him of the forgiveness and favor 
of that Almighty Being before whom he is about to appear. 
But this the fairest morality is utterly insufficient to do. It 
meets not the exigencies of the sinner's case. It is neither obe- 
dience to the law, nor to the gospel ; neither love to God, nor 
faith in Christ. It is in its loveliest form only the cob-web cov- 
ering of a fair exterior, and, wrapped only in this covering, the 
soul shudders at the thought of death, and falls back in dismay 
at the sight of the great tribune. 

The Apostle enjoyed great peace in the near prospect of 
death ; but it was derived not from a moral life, but from faith 
in Christ, from evidence felt within that he had a personal in- 
terest in the great salvation, and was clothed in His righteous- 
ness who had loved him and given himself to die for him. 
This is the only sure ground of peace in the hour of death. 
Every other is then found to be insufficient, and, trusted in, ends 
in destruction. It is not giving up my breath, said the noble- 
man before referred to, it is not being for ever insensible, that 
is the thought at which I shrink ; it is the terrible hereafter, 
the something beyond the grave, at which I recoil. Those great 
realities which in the hours of mirth a:nd vanity I have treated 
as phantoms, as the idle dreams of superstitious beings, these 
start forth and dare me now in their most terrible demonstra- 
tions. O, my friends, exclaimed the pious Janeway, we little 
think what Christ is worth on a death-bed. I would not now 
for a world, nay, for millions of worlds, be without Christ and 
pardon. God might justly condemn me, said Richard Baxter, 
for the best deeds I ever did, and all my hopes are from the free 
mercy of God in Christ. 



388 CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 

Said the meek and learned Hooker, as he approached his end^ 
Though I have by his grace loved God in my youth and feared 
him in my age, and labored to have a conscience void of offense 
to him and to all men, yet, if thou, O Lord, be extreme to mark 
what I have done amiss, who can abide it? And, therefore, 
where I have failed, show mercy to me, for I plead not my right- 
eousness, but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness, for His 
merits who died to purchase pardon for penitent sinners. Such 
too were the feelings of our ow^n venerated Hooker* in his dy- 
ing hour. To a friend who said to him, sir, you are going to 
receive the reward of your labors, he replied, brother, I am go- 
ing to receive mercy. And not to mention other examples un- 
der this head, let me refer to the case of Dr. Johnson. He wa& 
a moral man ; but his morality could not soften the terrors of a 
death-bed, nor give him the least peace in prospect of meeting 
his Judge. When a friend, to calm his agitated mind, referred 
him to his correct morals and useful life for topics of consola- 
tion, he put them away as nothing worth, and in bitterness of 
soul exclaimed. Shall I, who have been a teacher of others, be 
myself cast away ? This great man had not then fled for refuge 
to the blood of atonement, as he afterwards did ; and therefore^ 
notwithstanding his moral and useful life, he was afraid to die, 
and all beyond the grave looked dark and gloomy to him. And 
so must it look to all who come to the dying hour with no better 
preparation than is furnished in a moral life. 

4. Men at the hour of death are constrained to acknowledge 
the folly and guilt of an irreligious life, and the supreme impor- 
tance of a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever 
apologies are made in the days of health and prosperity for the 
neglect of religion, those apologies are found utterly worthless 
on a death-bed, and are renounced as vain and delusive. All 
excuses vanish in the presence of the king of terrors, and the 
sinner looks back with self-reproach and astonishment upon the 
presumption and folly which led him to disregard God, and neg- 
lect the concerns of his eternity. Religion is then felt to be in- 
deed the one thing needful, and the whole earth too poor to be 
given in exchange for the soul. I have attended many death- 
beds in the course of my ministry, but I recollect no" instance 
where reason was in exercise, in which this acknowledgment 
was not ready to be made. All are then ready to exclaim, O 
that I had been wise, that I had understood and considered my 

* First pastor of the First Church in Hartford. Died in 1647. 



CONFESSIONS OP DYING MEN. 389 

latter end. And even Christians, as much as they love and 
prize religion in life, feel, when they come to die, that their high- 
est and best views of its importance were far below the reality. 
They see, then, that it is the only true wisdom to live for God 
and* eternity, and they are amazed to think that they have lived 
at so poor a rate, and have done so little for the honor of Christ 
and the advancement of his cause on earth. However men 
may differ respecting the value and importance of religion in 
health, there is but one opinion on the subject when they come 
to He upon the bed of death. The great question which then - 
absorbs all others, and presses with overwhelming weight on 
the soul, is : Have I a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
Have I been born of the Spirit? Am I pardoned through the 
blood of atonement, and prepared to appear before my Judge in 
peace? The world, with all its pomp, pleasures, and interests, 
then appears infinitely too light to engage a single thought in 
comparison with the great question — Am I a Christian, and 
may I hope on good ground to enter into the joy of my Lord 
on leaving this earthly abode? None find peace and hope in 
that hour but those who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the 
hope set before them in the gospel. The world retires then, 
and leaves its wretched votaries in poverty and despair. But 
heaven comes near to sustain and comfort the faithful servants 
of God; and they feel that an interest in Christ is of more 
value than a thousand worlds like this. Look at Enoch walking 
with God, and through faith was exempted from death, and was 
not, for God took him ; at David comforting himself in the close 
of life in the assurance that God had made an everlasting cov- 
enant with him, ordered in all things and sure ; at Paul joyfully 
declaring in the near view of death, " I know in whom I have 
believed ;" at the dying missionary, Ziegenbalger, exclaiming, 
" Washed from my sins in the blood of Christ, and clothed with 
his righteousness, I shall enter into his eternal kingdom ;" at 
Swartz sweetly singing his soul away to everlasting bliss ;" at 
Baxter, saying, amid the sinkings of nature, " I am almost well ;" 
at Owen hfting up his eyes and his hands as in a kind of rap- 
ture, and exclaiming to a friend, " O, brother, the long looked- 
for day is come at last, in which I shall see the glory of Christ 
in another manner than I have ever yet done ;" at Edwards 
comforting his family, as they stood around his dying bed, with 
the memorable words, " Trust in God, and you have nothing to 
fear ;" at Martyn in the solitudes of Persia, writing thus a few 



390 CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 

days before his death — "I sat alone, and thought with sweet 
comfort and peace of God, in solitude my company, my friend, 
and comforter ;" at Dwight, exclaiming, when the seventeenth 
chapter of John was read to him, "O, what triumphant truths!" 
at Evarts shouting " Glory ! Jesus reigns !" as he closed hi^ eyes 
on death; at Payson uttering the language of assurance, as he 
grappled with the last enemy — "The battle is fought! the battle 
is fought! and the victory is won for ever!" In a word, look 
at the great cloud of witnesses, who, in the faith of Jesus, have 
triumphed over death and the grave, and peacefully closed their 
eyes on this world in joyful hope of opening them in another 
and a better, and you will learn in what estimation religion is 
held, when the scenes of earth are retiring, and those of eternity 
are opening upon the vision of dying men. 

When men are laid upon the bed of death and know that they 
must go hence to be seen here no more, they always feel that it 
is indeed a solemn thing to die and pass into eternity. If there 
be exceptions, they are very rare, and occur only in cases of 
extreme skepticism, or of profound stupidity. Hume could 
amuse himself with playing chess when death was at the door ; 
and Rousseau could lightly talk of giving back to God his soul 
as pure as when it came from his hand. But conduct like this 
is the extreme of infatuation, and can be regarded in no other 
light than as a part of the accursedness of those who are rep- 
robate of God. Think of it as we may, while the event is 
viewed as future and distant, we shall all- find, when the last hour 
comes, that it is indeed a serious matter to die. To close all 
our connections with this world ; to lie down upon the bed from 
which we shall never rise up ; to have our bodies turned to dust, 
and our souls go into the world of spirits to appear before God, 
and pass the all-decisive trial, and enter upon a state of being 
that is never to change — these are events which may well make 
mortals tremble and shrink back at their approach. So the dy- 
ing nobleman felt, whom I have more than once referred to, 
when he said — a condemned wretch may, with as good a grace, 
go dancing to his execution, as the greatest part of mankind go 
on with such a thoughtless gayety to their graves. A future 
state, said the Duke of Buckingham, dying in despair, may well 
strike terror into a man who has not acted well in life ; and he 
must have an uncommon share of courage indeed who does not 
shrink at the presence of God. And even Lord Chesterfield, 
skeptic and devotee of pleasure as he was, was compelled to 



CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 391 

acknowledge, as the closing scene drew on — When one does see 
death near, let the best or the worst people say what they please, 
it is a serious consideration. Remorse for the past, exclaimed 
the dying Altamont, throws my thoughts on the future. Worse 
dread of the future strikes them back on the past. I turn and 
turn, and find no ray of light. Death is knocking at my doors ; 
in a few hours more I shall draw my last gasp ; and then the 
judgment, the tremendous judgment! How shall I appear, all 
unprepared as I am, before the all-knowing and omnipotent 
God? O eternity, eternity, cried the distracted Newport, as he 
lay upon his death-bed, contemplating the solemn scenes before 
him, who can paraphrase on the words for ever and ever? 

Such are the confessions that are wont to be made by dying 
men; such the feelings and thoughts that crowd upon the mind 
as the last hour approaches. And in view of them we may 
remark, 

1. They are founded in truth; there is just cause for them. 
It is true that life is short, and that time is of infinite value. 
It is true that this world contains nothing which can satisfy the 
wants of the immortal mind. It is true that a moral life is ut- 
terly insufficient as a preparation for death and the judgment. 
It is true that an irreligious life is a life of extreme folly and 
presumption, and that a saving interest in Christ is a matter, of 
supreme importance to every living man. It is true that it is a 
solemn thing to die and go into eternity, to appear before a holy 
God. And the wonder is, not that dying men should feel these 
things to be true, and be deeply affected by them, but that living 
men should treat them with indifference, and go through the 
world contradicting the feelings and views which are sure to 
crowd upon them with overwhelming interest in the day of 
death. Here is just matter of astonishment; and of all the 
strange things that are witnessed in the conduct of our fallen 
race, this is the strangest, that men should walk in the midst of 
graves, convey their own friends and acquaintances to the house 
of silence, and meet every day and in • every path of life with 
the most solemn monitions of their own approaching end, and 
still live as though they were never to die, and shut their eyes 
on scenes which must soon burst upon them in all the weight 
and solemnity of a present eternity. I remark, 

2. That many of my hearers will, in a short time, view the 
subject in a very different hght from that in which they now 
contemplate it. Some of you are young, and in the buoyant 

34 



392 CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 

feelings of youth and health scarcely think it possible that you 
may soon be called to death and the judgment. Some of you 
are profoundly careless of your immortal well-being, and are so 
enamored of the things of the world that you seldom think of 
your latter end, or of what you need to prepare you to die. 
Others of you are perhaps skeptical as to the reality of a change 
of heart to fit you for the closing scene, and are trusting to a 
moral life as a foundation of hope in the coming day of trial; 
others of you still, who bear the Christian name, are probably 
deceived as to the ground of your hope, or are living in a state 
of backsliding from God, awfully unprepared for his summons 
to leave the world. To all such the Son of Man is likely to 
come in an hour they think not of; and when he comes, they 
will be thrown into fearful consternation, and the dreams with 
which they are now deluded will vanish for ever. You have 
heard what is the testimony of dying men on some points of 
infinite moment to yourselves, but which you at present regard 
with little feeling, and treat with great neglect. But the time 
is not distant when you shall join your testimony with those that 
have gone before you into the invisible world; when the scene 
of life shall close, and your eternal state commence. And what- 
ever be your present views and feelings, it is not in the least 
doubtful what they will be then. Should you die in the exer- 
cise of your reason, "you will look back with amazement on your 
present course of life, and wonder how you could be so infatu- 
ated as to neglect God and your souls, and make no preparation 
for the solemn scenes of a dying hour. Those of you who are 
now young will then learn that you are not too young to die ; 
and those of you who are living securely in sin, that it is indeed 
a fearful thing to fall into thevhands of the living God; and 
those of you who are trusting to a moral life, that you are trust- 
ing to a foundation of sand ; and those of you who are cold and 
formal in religion, that in such a state of mind you are sadly 
unprepared to die, and render up your account" unto God. 
Death will bring your hearts and lives to a new and severe test, 
and draw from all of you the confession, that to fear God and 
keep his commandments is the first duty and the highest wisdom 
and happinesss of every living man. I remark, 

3. It is the part of true wisdom to cherish those views and 
feelings now, which we know we shall regard as of supreme 
importance when we come to die. Why should any spend life 
in treasuring materials for sorrow, disappointment, and despair 



CONFESSIONS OP DYING MEN. 393 

in the dying hour ? Why should any gather food for the worm 
that never dies, or fuel for the fire that is never quenched ? If, 
as we draw near to death, we shall regard life as very short, 
and time as infinitely valuable, let us regard them so now, and 
be quickened to do with our might whatsoever our hands find to 
do. If we shall then feel that this world is a poor thing, con- 
sidered as a portion for the soul, let us view it in that light now, 
and choose God as our portion, and heaven as our home. If a 
hope of acceptance with God, built on a mere moral life, will 
then perish as the spider's web and leave us in despair, let us 
renounce that vain confidence now, and build our hope on that 
sure corner-stone which God has laid in Zion, and which will 
never disappoint us. If an impenitent, irreligious life will then 
appear to us the greatest folly, and a saving interest in Christ 
the one thing needful, let us not pursue such a life any longer, 
but close at once with the Saviour, and follow him as our Lord 
and Master unto the end of our days. And if when the end 
comes we shall find it indeed a solemn thing to die and go into 
eternity to appear before God, let us regard it so now, and make 
that preparation which will sustain us in the last conflict, and 
give us peace in the day of final decision. 

Look forward, then, immortal man, and endeavor to realize 
what will be your feelings and views in the dying hour, and if 
you would be wise, begin without delay to cherish those senti- 
ments and pursue that course of life which you will then wish 
you had, which will save you fi-om remorse and self-reproach 
and bitter despair in the great day of the Lord. 

" Nothing," surely, " is worth a thought beneath, but how we 
may escape that death that never, never dies ; how make our 
own election sure, and when we fail on earth, secure a mansion 
in the skies." 

4. The confessions of dying men are of no avail, only as they 
indicate the folly of sin and the value of religion. They do 
not change the character — they do not fit the soul for death or 
for heaven. Of the many instances mentioned in this discourse 
of wicked men being awakened at the close of life to some just 
view of their character and state, there is not one in which 
there is any evidence that they repented and embraced the sal- 
vation of the gospel. Their groans, like those of the damned, 
come up to proclaim the miseries of sin, and to warn the living 
to avoid their wretched end. It is not the remorse and fear of 
a dying hour ; it is not the shudderings of guilt, and the confu- 



394 CONFESSIONS OF DYING MEN. 

sions and tears which are wrung from sinners when they find 
they can enjoy the world no longer, but must go and give an 
account of themselves unto God, that can avail to change the 
heart and prepare the soul for the inheritance of the saints in 
light. The strong bands of sin are not so dissolved, nor is it so 
that the love of God and Christ is inspired in the bosom, and 
meetness acquired for a place among the redeemed in heaven. 
No, dear hearer ; if you put off religion till you come to a death- 
bed, you will probably be left to put it off for ever. You will 
not find it so easy as you suppose to cast off the habits of sin, 
to believe in Christ, and make your peace with God. You may 
be awakened to see your sin and misery; you may bewail the 
stupidity and folly of your past life, your mis-spent time, your 
abuse of privileges, your neglect of calls and warnings; the ter- 
rors of death and the pains of hell may get hold upon you, and 
you may cry in agony of spirit for help ; but God may leave 
you, as he has other despisers of mercy, awful monuments to 
warn those who survive you of the danger of trifling with the 
claims of religion and the high concerns of eternity. Be wise, 
then, in this your day, to attend to the things which belong to 
your peace, lest they be hid for ever from your eyes. Go learn 
the value of religion in the peaceful and triumphant death of 
those that die in the Lord ; go learn its value in the remorse 
and despair of those that die in neglect of Christ and his salva- 
tion. Then look to the end of life, and remember that with 
one or the other of these two classes of persons you are to ter- 
minate your mortal career ; that with the friends of God, the 
followers of Jesus, you are to bear your testimony to the value 
of religion in the joy and hope that will then fill your bosom, or 
with the enemies of God and the neglecters of the Saviour, you 
are to bear your testimony to the guilt and misery of an irreli- 
gious, prayerless life, in the remorse and fear that will then 
agitate and corrode the soul. Which, then, will you do ? which 
does conscience admonish you to do ? which will you wish you 
had done in the day when you shall bid adieu to the scenes of 
earth, and go to dwell among the dead ? Decide now, and let 
your life be regulated accordingly. Decide now, and let no day 
nor hour of the year on which you have just entered find you 
unprepared to meet the summons, should it come, that is to call 
you out of time into eternity. Hear the voices of those who, 
during the year past, departed from this congregation into the 
world of spirits — eleven in all, ten of whom were members of 



THE GOSPEL, ETC. 395 

the church, and died, I trust, in good hope of eternal life. 
Would jou die like them, and Have your last end like theirs ? 
Then, as jOu stand upon the threshold of this new year, with 
its unknown events before you, retreat awhile from the snares 
and delusions of the world ; shut your eyes upon the scenes of 
time, upon which they must soon be closed for ever, and con- 
verse with the world to come — with death, judgment, and eter- 
nity. Go stand upon the shores of that dark, vast ocean you 
must sail so soon, and listen to the sound of its waves till you 
are deaf to every sound besides, and then with these solemn 
scenes around and before you, endeavor, with all earnestness 
and diligence, to gather about you those resources of faith and 
piety which you will assuredly need in the day when you shall 
be called to meet that enemy whom you must conquer, or die 
for ever. 



SERMON XXXVI. 



THE GOSPEL ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER. 

John 20 : 21. As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 

It might seem to derogate from the dignity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ to speak of him as a missionary among men. It 
is nevertheless true that he did sustain this character on earth. 
He was sent — and this is the essential idea of a missionary, — 
he was sent of the Father, on a mission of mercy to a misera- 
ble world ; and the great object of his mission he pursued with 
self-sacrificing love, till he exclaimed on the cross "It is finished," 
and gave up the ghost. Then, just before his ascension to 
glory, he sent forth other missionaries, the Apostles, command- 
ing them to take up the work of evangelizing the world where 
he left it, and in their turn to appoint others, and these, others, 
that so the great work of mercy might go on till the whole 
world should be converted to God. In all this our blessed 
Lord acted in the spirit of his own religion. He showed what 
34* 



396 THE GOSPEL 

is the nature of that religion and what its proper fruits in all 
who come practically under its influence. 

These remarks suggest the subject of my discourse, which is 
this, — The religion of the gospel is essentially missionary in 
its spirit and design. In illustration of this sentiment let us 
consider, 

1. The origin of this religion. Viewed, objectively as a 
system of grace and truth, it originated in the bosom of ever- 
lasting love. It is not indigenous in our world. The soil of 
the human heart is not congenial to its growth. The apostacy 
exiled religion from the earth, and spread barrenness and death 
over all the abodes of men. In this state God beheld our race, 
a race ruined by sin, and in the counsels of eternity, his 
thoughts were turned upon the great work of human redemp- 
tion. Darkness, deep and fearful, had overspread the prospects 
of man, and it had been a darkness without any dawn forever, 
if God had not so loved the world as to give his only begotten 
Son to die. Here is the fountain head of light and hope to 
our lost world. In the mission of his Son, God the Father 
embodied a system of truth and grace,, and in his person sent 
it forth from its native heaven on a visit of mercy to the 
abodes of men. Go, said the Eternal, to yonder world of 
wretchedness and guilt, and there make known my purposes of 
love ; seek»out the poor and the perishing of every name and 
tell them of the glad tidings of salvation, and rest not in thy 
mission of love till all the ends of the earth shall hear of my 
grace and turn unto the Lord. Thus the origin of the religion 
of the Bible distinctly marks its missionary character. It came 
down from heaven, was sent hither to enlighten, to bless and 
save mankind ; its field is the world ; and its work here below 
will not be done till there shall not be a village, nor hamlet, nor 
dwelling of man on all the globe, unvisited by the light of truth, 
unblessed by the joys of salvation. 

2. Consider the nature of the religion of the gospel. This 
is love, benevolent, self-sacrificing love, like the source whence 
it sprung. It was so characterized by the angels who an- 
nounced the birth of its Divine Author, — "on earth peace, 
good will to men." This is the essential character of Christ's 
religion. Its doctrines, duties, invitations, promises, and even 
its Ihreatenings, breathe of love. They are instinct with the 
spirit of kindness and good will toward the needy and the mis- 
erable of every name. Now, such a spirit is necessarily diffu- 
sive. It seeks to spread itself abroad ; it can not be confined 



ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER. 397 

at home or within the narrow walls of selfishness, any more 
than the light which emanates from the san can be confined in 
a dark room. The very attempt to confine, extinguishes it. 
As love in the bosom of God leads him to do good, so when a 
portion of that love is breathed into the bosoms of any of his 
creatures, it impels them also to do good ; it melts the cold and 
selfish heart into sympathy and tenderness, and inspires in the 
soul a warm and generous desire to diffuse, as widely as possi- 
ble, the blessings of which itself has been made the happy par- 
taker. How does love, benevolence, operate in the common 
relations of life ? Is it a sluggish, inoperative principle, choos- 
ing to keep at home, and to care and do only for itself? What 
are the feelings of the mother as she thinks of her sailor boy 
far off on the deep, or of a son suffering captivity in a distant 
land ? Is there no going forth of tender sympathy toward the 
object of her affection ; no sharing with him the hardships of 
his condition, in the dreams of the night ; no promptings of 
desire, by day, to go and minister to his comfort ? You have a 
friend whom you sincerely love ; he is at a distance from you. 
and you hear that he is sick and in want. What is the first 
feeling that rises in your bosom, what the most earnest desire 
that occupies your mind ? Is it not that in some way you may 
contribute to the relief of your friend ; may go and visit him in 
his sickness and sympathize with him in his sufferings ? So 
angels, impelled by benevolence, delight to go forth on missions 
of love, ministering here below to the heirs of salvation ? So 
the redeemed in heaven rejoice over sinners repenting on earth. 
And so all who have the spirit of the redeemed, the spirit 
breathed into the bosom by the religion of Christ, can not but 
feel a sympathy for their needy, perishing fellow men. Like 
the Saviour they will compassionate their condition ; and 
though they may not be called to be missionaries themselves, 
they will assuredly possess the spirit of missions, so far as they 
possess the spirit of the religion of Christ, and will rejoice in 
every opportunity to send the blessings of that religion far and 
wide over the earth. ^^M 

3. The missionary charatcer of the religion of the gospel is 
manifest from the declared design of that religion. This is to 
spread abroad the blessings of salvation as wide as the ruins of 
the fall. The mission of our Saviour into the world contem- 
plated nothing short of this. He came to seek and to save 
that which was lost. The great plan of mercy, as disclosed in 
the Bible, is not confined to the people of any one age or na- 



398 THE GOSPEL 

tion. The atonement and the various provisions of grace 
revealed in the gospel were designed for all mankind, for the 
whole world. And further, it is the declared purpose of God, 
declared in numerous and most explicit passages in his word, 
that the free and ample provisions of his grace shall be pub- 
lished over all the earth, and the offer of salvation made to 
every human being. 

But how is this to be done ? The gospel can not publish 
itself to the nations. Nor will the needy and the perishing, 
whether of our own or of foreign lands, moved by an impulse 
from themselves, come where the gospel is, seeking its light and 
salvation. No, its treasures of grace and truth lie inclosed in 
a silent, speechless volume ; and it is for those who have that 
volume in their hands, and are blessed with its joys and hopes, 
to fulfill the purpose of God in respect to it, by sending it 
abroad to enlighten and bless the whole family of man. Its 
missionary design and character are to be carried out and illus- 
trated by the living preacher, going forth to publish its glad 
tidings to those who are perishing for lack of vision ; and in 
this divine work all the friends of the Redeemer, impelled by 
the fervors of Heaven's benevolence, are, in their respective 
places, to bear a part. They are the representatives of the 
divine mercy in the world ; the selected agents through whom 
the missionary spirit of the gospel is to flow, as through its 
appropriate channels, to do away the effects of the curse, and 
clothe with moral verdure and beauty, all the desolate parts of 
the earth. 

4. If the declared design of the gospel proves its missionary 
spirit and tendency, so also does its perfect adaptation to the 
character and wants of man. Wherever man is found, over 
all the earth, he possesses essentially the same character, is 
oppressed with the same wants, and needs the same means of 
recovery. He is every-where a sinner, involved in guilt and 
misery, and in perishing need of help from above to raise him 
from sin and death to holiness and salvation. And it is the 
peculiar glory of the gospel that it brings to man just what he 
needs, and all that he needs, pardon, peace and eternal glory ; 
grace to enlighten, to sanctify, to comfort and save. Unlike 
every other system of religion, it is not local or limited in its 
character and claims, but is fitted and designed to be a univer- 
sal religion ; and as such it adapts itself with perfect readiness 
to every modification of human character and to every variety 
of human condition. The kingdom of God is in you said 



ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER. 399 

the Saviour. It is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy 
Ghost — a spiritual kingdom, set up in the soul, and reign- 
ing there to extend its dominion over the whole man — to con- 
form him to the image and will of God and fit him for the 
purity and blessedness of heaven. It is a noiseless, peaceful 
kingdom ; its weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God ; 
and its conquests ai'e not conquests of carnage and blood, but 
of righteousness and truth, of light and love, infused into the 
mind and heart and creating the soul anew in Christ. Hence 
the religion of the gospel can adapt itself to all countries, what- 
ever be their forms of civil government, and to all classes and 
grades of men, however diverse their character and condition. 
Its essential truths are so plain and simple that a child can 
understand them, and yet so great and comprehensive that the 
mightiest intellect is lost in admiration and wonder in the con- 
templation of them. The ruler and the subject, the philosopher 
and the peasant, the rich and the poor, the refined and the 
uneducated, the heathen and 'the dweller in Christian lands, — 
all stand in equal need of the gospel, and to all, indiscriminately 
and with equal readiness, the gospel adapts its provisions of 
grace and truth, of pardon and salvation. This feature of 
the gospel is one of its most striking peculiarities ; it is a sys- 
tem of religion perfectly adapted to become universal; to 
extend its dominion over every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation on the globe. As there is not a human being on 
earth who does not need what the gospel provides and 'offers, 
so there is not one whom the gospel is not fitted to elevate, to 
bless and save; and this clearly marks the mission of the 
gospel in our world as a mission of mercy and love to be 
extended to all mankind. 

The missionary character of the gospel might be further 
argued from the office of the Holy Spirit, as intended to carry 
out and complete the great work of the Saviour's mediation. 
When about to withdraw his personal presence from the world, 
our blessed Lord said to his disciples, " I will send you another 
Comforter who shall abide with you forever." And what was 
to be the sphere of his agency ? Was it to be confined to any 
particular country or province or section of the globe ? No, 
his field was the world. " He shall convince the world of sin." 
And how ? Not miraculously, or without the intervention of 
divinely appointed means ; but with such means, used by the 
friends of the Redeemer and extended over all the earth. 
How else is the mission of the Holy Spirit in our world to be 



400 THE GOSPEL 

accomplished ? He is now abroad among men executing pur- 
poses of mercy wherever the means of his appointment are 
faithfully used, and he only waits to have those means sent 
broad-cast over the earth, to go forth and attend them with 
his mighty power, convincing the world of sin and bringing 
back its alienated inhabitants to their allegiance to God, and to 
hope in his mercy. But passing this topic, I hasten to remark, 
5. That in proportion as the gospel has flourished on earth, 
it has shown itself to be missionary in its spirit and tendency. 
All its conquests have been made in the spirit of missions. Its 
central point of emanation was that upper room in Jerusalem, 
where the little company of disciples abode with one accord in 
prayer, some ten days after the ascension of our Lord, previous 
to the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This 
effusion of divine influence filled them with the spirit of mis- 
sions, and sent them forth through Jerusalem and Judea and 
every where, as they had opportunity, preaching the gospel. 
It would seem as if this anointing from above was necessary to 
give the disciples a full understanding of the spirit and intent 
of the command of their risen Lord to go into all the world and 
preach the gospel to every creature. However this may, be, it 
is certain that from that time, the Apostles and others, their 
fellow Christians, became, in an eminent sense, missionaries ; 
and anointed with the fervors of divine love, went forth, far and 
wide, proclaiming salvation through Christ. Primitive piety 
was warm-hearted, devoted, outgoing piety, and therefore pre- 
eminently missionary piety. Under the impulse which it im- 
parted to Christian enterprise and zeal, the gospel flew abroad, 
as on a thousand v/ings, scattering light and joy and salvation 
over distant lands and heathen nations, till within thirty years 
after the ascension of our Lord, the gospel had penetrated the 
heart of the Roman empire and set up its banner by the palace 
of the Csesars. Thus the work of evangelizing the world went 
on, while the spirit of the gospel continued warm and vigorous 
in the hearts of Christians ; and the far distant East was vis- 
ited by the footsteps of the missionary, and so was Spain, and 
France, and the dark forests of Germany, and our own father- 
land, then the abode of dark-minded idolaters and filled with 
the habitations of cruelty. There is not a nation on earth, 
now enjoying the blessings of civilization and Christianity, that 
is not indebted for them to the spirit of missions. Why our 
ancestors, the hardy Britons, did not continue as they had done, 
from generation to generation, to worship their Thor and Wo- 



ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER. 401 

den, and offer human sacrifices, clothed in the skins of wild 
beasts and living in caves and dens of the earth, can be 
accounted for only by the fact that the spirit of missions sought 
them out in their darkness and misery and won them over to 
the faith and hopes of the gospel. It was the same spirit that 
brought our forefathers to these then savage shores, and en- 
gaged them to plant here those civil and religious institutions 
which continue to bless us at this day. These excellent men 
had felt the power of the gospel ; it was in them a living prin- 
ciple of faith and love ; and this made them plan and toil and 
pray for the good of distant, unborn generations. Even Col- 
umbus, in his great enterprise of discovering America, was 
actuated as much, perhaps, % the hopes he cherished of extend- 
ing here the kingdom of Christ as by any other motive. And 
the earliest and best days of our religious history record many 
noble examples of devotion to the missionary work, attesting at 
once the end for which our pious ancestors came to this land 
and the spirit that glowed in their bosoms. Indeed, who does 
not know that in whatever bosom the gospel gains a practical 
lodgment, and there sheds abroad its peculiar spirit, the imme- 
diate effect is to wake up an interest in the spiritual welfare of 
others, and to prompt the inquiry, Lord, what wilt thou have 
me to do ; — what wilt thou have me to do for my family, for my 
neighbors and friends, for my country and the world, that all 
may be blessed with thy salvation ? The conduct of Melanc- 
thon, in hastening immediately after his own conversion, to seek 
the conversion of his relatives and acquaintances was perfectly 
natural, the spontaneous dictate of a heart grateful for redeem- 
ing love, and acting under the impulse of the new spirit 
breathed into it. Scarcely any thing is more common among 
young converts than an ardent desire to engage in the mission- 
ary work. They wish to do something to testify their love to 
the Saviour, and advance the cause of human salvation, and 
happy would it be if this state of mind was always cherished 
and carried out in appropriate acts. Never indeed, does God 
in any place pour out his spirit and give success to his gospel 
in the revival of rehgion, but there is an immediate quickening 
of interest in the cause of Christian missions ; and that person's 
religion would be greatly to be suspected, who, professing him- 
self to have the spirit and enjoy the hopes of the gospel, should 
feel no promptings of earnest, benevolent desire to send to oth- 
ers the blessings of the common salvation. No, this cannot be. 



402 THE GOSPEL 

It enters into the very nature of the religion of Christ that it 
draws those who possess that rehgion into grateful, active fel- 
lowship with him, its Divine Author, in accomplishing the 
great design of his mission in our world, — that of seeking and 
saving the lost ; sending the blessings of salvation over all the 
earth. 

In conclusion I am led to remark, 

1. That in view of what has been said, we see why it is that 
the more religion we send abroad, the more we have at home. 
The fact is unquestionable. It is now some fifty or sixty years 
since the churches in this country began to take a new and spe- 
cial interest in the cause of Christian missions. Within that 
period most of the benevolent societies of our day have come 
into being, and every year has witnessed new and more ex- 
tended efforts to send the gospel to the destitute, both in our 
own and in foreign lands. And when, since the commence- 
ment of our history, has religion been more flourishing at home, 
or when has God visited our churches with more frequent and 
powerful effusions of his spirit? In proportion as the spirit of 
missions has gained ground and excited to effort and prayer in 
behalf of the needy and the perishing, the gospel has been 
prized by those who have long enjoyed it, and the fruits of a 
vigorous and growing piety have abounded. The fact is easily 
accounted for. The spirit of missions is the spirit of the gos- 
pel, and the more this spirit is brought into exercise in seeking 
to send the blessings of salvation to the poor and the destitute, 
the more strength and vigor does it acquire, and the mor-e it 
abounds in all the fruits of holiness. It was wont to be said, in 
the days of persecution, that " the blood of the martyrs is the 
seed of the church." It may be said, at least with equal truth, 
that the spirit of missions is the element of spiritual prosperity, 
both to individual Christians, to churches and communities. 
Religion is not like the coin of a country, diminished by expor- 
tation. It is rather increased. The more of it you send 
abroad, the more you have at home. So universally is this 
true, that no better means of growth in grace can be proposed 
to you, my brethren, than to cultivate the missionary spirit and 
to accustom yourselves to care and do for others. While striv- 
ing to expel the darkness from other minds or other lands, your 
own darkness is scattered and you walk forth in the full light of 
day. While you water, you are watered also yourselves. 
While you send abroad the bread of life to the needy and the 



ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER. 403 

famishing, God will feed you with the bread of heaven, and 
you shall be daily growing in meetness for the inheritance of the 
saints in light. 

2. We see the true ground of encouragement in regard to 
the success of the missionary enterprise. The work to be 
accomplished is vast. The obstacles in the way of its accom- 
plishment are innumerable, and no power of man or of angel 
is competent to surmount or remove them. And yet we have 
perfect confidence in the ultimate success of the great enter- 
prise in which Christians are now engaged, of sending the light 
of salvation through the world. And why ? Why, because it 
is an enterprise based on the gospel ; is moved forward by the 
spirit and power of the gospel; and just in proportion as 
Christians imbibe the spirit and come under the power of the 
gospel, they will enter into this enterprise, devote their energies 
to its advancement, and God, according to his promise, will be 
with them, and crown their efforts with his blessing. The gos- 
pel is God's great ordinance for the recovery of lost man to 
himself. It has come down from heaven, with heaven's light 
and power, come to create all things new ; and identifying itself, 
as it does, with the cause of missions, it imparts its own mighty 
energy to that cause, and will bear it on, in despite of obstacles, 
to its predicted triumph over all the earth. It will breathe 
more and more its own spirit of love into the hearts of Christ- 
ians, dispose them to look with a more benevolent eye, upon the 
wants of their fellow men, and open their hands in larger and 
more generous liberality, and so the missionary enterprise will 
be continually gathering new accessions of strength and power 
to itself, till ere long the shout shall come down from heaven, 
and reverberate through all the dwellings of men, " the king- 
doms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever." 

3. The interest which is felt in the missionary enterprise is a 
fair test of the state of religion in any heart or in any church. 
It must be so, seeing the spirit of the gospel is essentially the 
spirit of missions. No heart can be in a right state, and no 
church can be spiritually prosperous, where the gospel does not 
diffuse its spirit of benevolence and love, and prompt to a cor- 
responding course of action. And so sure as in any heart, or 
in any church, the gospel does operate to produce these effects, 
so sure it is that there will be a quickened interest in the cause 
of missions, and a more generous, efficient desire to engage in 

35 



404 THE GOSPEL 

efforts to advance that cause. It can not be, that true religion 
can ever be indifferent to the spiritual wants of others, or look 
coldly on, while immortal men, near by and afar off, are perish- 
ing for lack of vision. The first promptings of a heart warmed 
with the love of Christ and grateful to him for redeeming 
mercy is to inquire, what returns can I make for the grace I 
have received from my Lord and Saviour ; what can I do to 
advance the knowledge of his precious name, and bring others 
to share with me in the joys of his salvation ? Try yourselves 
then, my friends, by this test. What measure of interest do 
you feel in the great cause of Christian missions ; what fer- 
vency of prayer do you feel for its success, what sacrifices make 
for its wider spread and more rapid progress ? Are you wil- 
ling to have your interest in the gospel measured by the interest 
you feel in the efforts made at this day to send the blessings of 
the gospel to the needy and perishing among your fellow men ? 
Rely upon it, my friends, this is a point of vital importance in 
respect to the sincerity of your religion and the foundation of 
your hopes. We rejoice in all the evidences we witness among 
you, and they are many, of an interest in the cause of both 
home and foreign missions; a cause, we are sure, which lies 
near the heart of everlasting Love, and which ought to engage 
the best feelings and the most cordial co-operation of all who 
call themselves Christians. We regret, we deeply regret that 
any should be indifferent to this cause, that any should treat it 
with coldness and neglect, while thousands and millions of their 
dying fellow men, at home and abroad, are sending forth their 
cries for relief. We pity, and we will pray for them ; for we 
consider their neglect, in this matter, as placing tliem in a con- 
dition of peculiar guilt and danger. We recollect that it was 
once said by the great Lord of missions, — he that is not for me 
is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth 
abroad. So that this very neglect of theirs may at length 
involve them in the guilt and condemnation of those who 
are found against Christ and opposed to the interests of his 
kingdom. 

4. It is of great importance that the missionary spirit should 
be assiduously cultivated in all our families, churches, colleges 
and theological seminaries; — in our families; that they may 
grow up in the spirit of the gospel, and early learn to carry out 
that spirit in caring and doing for the good of others ; in our 
churches ; that the tone of religion may be kept vigorous and 



ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IN ITS CHARACTER. 405 

healthful in them, and their members be distinguished, as they 
should be, in co-operating with the Saviour in accomplishing 
the great object of his mission on earth; in our Colleges^ that 
our young men there in a course of education, may have their 
learning and talents sanctified and they be led to devote them- 
selves, as Brainard . and Martyn did, to the noble work of 
spreading the gospel through the world ; and in our Theological 
Seminaries, too, that the students there preparing for the minis- 
try may have a warmer and more expansive piety, and be 
qualified and constrained to go forth to their work, whether in 
Christian or in heathen lands, more in the self-denying, self- 
consecrating spirit of the Divine Missionary, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, — who came from heaven to seek and to save that which 
was lost, and who, though he was rich, for our sakes became 
poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. This is the 
true spirit of missions ; and just in proportion as that spirit 
reigns in our hearts, in our families, in our churches and in our 
seminaries of learning, religion will shed around its holiest 
and best influences and hasten the dawn of that happy day, 
when there shall be no more need to say — " know ye the Lord, 
for all shall know him from the least even unto the greatest." 

5. The missionary enterprise is one of high dignity and ex- 
cellence; and while it is adapted to cherish and -perfect some of 
the purest and noblest traits of the Christian character, it at 
the same time opens many rich and peculiar sources of enjoy- 
ment to those who enter into it in the true spirit of their Mas- 
ter. The spirit of that enterprise, we have seen, is from 
heaven; its nature is benevolence; its object the conversion of 
the world ; its motives, the love of Christ and the love of souls • 
its means the diffusion of light and love among the beni^^hted 
and the miserable ; its enjoyments the consciousness of doino- 
good, the promised presence of the Saviour on earth, his near 
and peculiar presence, with distinguished rewards of o-Iory in 
heaven. If purity of motive, if elevation of aim, if grandeur of 
object, if simplicity and efficacy of means, if joy in God in hfe 
and immortal joy in his presence hereafter ; if all these can im- 
part dignity to an enterprise, or worth to character, or blessed- 
ness to the soul, then should these qualifications be conceded as 
belonging in a high and peculiar sense to the missionary enter- 
prise, and to those who are truly and from the heart eno-af^ed 
in that enterprise. 

Look at Paul ; was ever man more noble, more elevated 



406 THE GOSPEL 

more useful, more bappy than he? But Paul was a missionary; 
and so were the other Apostles ; and so was Swartz, and Van- 
derkemp, and Ward, and Gary, and Eliot, and Brainerd, and 
Martyn, and Newell, and Fisk, and Parsons, and Judson and 
many others who have gone forth from our land to bear the 
tidings of salvation to the dying heathen ; bright lights while 
they remained here below, they have gone up to take their place 
as distinguished stars in the firmament above, there to shine 
with peculiar lustre forever and ever. 

6. It is one of the brightest omens of our day that the spirit 
of missions is pervading so extensively all denominations of 
Christians, and exciting them to constantly increasing efforts to 
fulfill the last command of the Saviour, " Go ye into all the 
world and preach the gospel to every creature." But passing 
this, I hasten to say, 

7. Finally, that all of us are bound to regard it, both as a duty 
and a privilege, to bear a part in the work of sending the gos- 
pel through our land and through the world. Be it that we 
are not called to engage personally in this work ; to go far 
away to the heathen, or to the distant and destitute parts of our 
own land, to make known the gospel of salvation; though a 
measure of service, even of this kind, may be required of some 
of us which we are by no means duly disposed to render. But 
there are other ways in which you may help forward the 
great work which we have been considering. You may assist 
it by your prayers. And if you have the spirit of Christ and 
know how to pray, no petition will break from your lips more 
frequently or rise from the heart with greater fervor, than 
this. Thy Mngdom come. This prayer should be offered con- 
tinually by the whole church, and by every one calling himself 
a Christian, till the Lord arise to plead his own cause, and 
establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the whole earth. 
With your prayers you may also give your alms. Nor will 
these be withheld, if you truly love the kingdom of Christ and 
pray for its prosperity. You will feel that you are stewards of 
the divine bounty ; that all you have and are belong to God, 
and realizing your responsibility to him for the use joxx make 
of whatever he commits to your stewardship, you will honestly 
inquire what the Lord will have you do with his property, and 
you will esteem it a privilege as well as a duty to appor- 
tion it out as he shall call for it from time to time, to help for- 
ward his cause of truth and righteousness in the world. 



ESSENTIALLY MISSIONARY IX ITS CHARACTER. 407 

AVith your prayers and alms you will also join your personal 
exertions. These are demanded in various ways to advance 
the cause for whicii the Saviour suftered and died. And a spirit 
should pervade every one of us, which shall prompt us to ask 
every morning, what can I do for Christ to-day ? and which 
should make us feel humbled and ashamed, if in the evening 
we are obliged to confess 'we have done nothing for him and his 
cause. Each one of us, is as much obligated as the missiona- 
ries themselves, to do all in his power to advance the common 
cause of Christianity. We, equall}' with them, if we are Chris- 
tians, have embraced that gospel, of which the fundamental prin- 
ciple is, — '"No man liveth to himself." Let this principle, my 
brethren, find a practical lodgment in your bosoms ; let it abide 
there as a prhiciple of feeling, of purpose, of action ; and if you 
ask for a field in which to labor for your Lord and Saviour, I 
would say, you may find such a field in your own family, in the 
Sabbath School, in the church and congregation to which you 
belong, in the city of your abode, any w^here, and every- where, 
where your influence can reach, or \vhere there are souls need- 
ing to be assisted into the way of life and salvation. 



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